Magical Moment Photos

Jerry Garcia's Spirit of Light will Shine Forever. Photo-Art by Ben Upham. Magical Moment Photos.

JERRY GARCIA-
“3rd SOLO LP”
BY KATHIE STASICA & GEORGE MANGRUM
THE DAILY REVIEW
HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA
FEBRUARY 6, 1976

The “San Francisco Sound” has been synonymous with the name Jerry Garcia since the early 60′s when he began putting out music with the Grateful Dead. Today the name has a new meaning — Jerry has worked himself into a music legend in the Bay Area.
Jerry is 33 now, but he still eats, sleeps and works music 24 hours a day. If he isn’t playing, practicing, writing or recording with the Grateful Dead, he is out doing solo gigs with the different bands he’s put together. Even on days when he has a concert, Jerry will practice for hours ahead of time.
Jerry has begun this year with his third solo album, “Reflections” on which he has eight strong cuts, including an old tune, “I’ll Take A Melody.”
I’m very pleased with it (the new album),” Jerry said during a rehearsal break at Keystone Berkeley. “I’ve been working on it since August. I didn’t just sit down and record it, I’ve been working on it off and on. Some of the later cuts we began recording as recently as December.” Four of the songs are co-written by Jerry and Robert Hunter. The rest are by people like Allen Toussaint and Hank Ballard.
“I pretty much like all the songs on this album equally. There were no cuts that I looked back on as mistakes to have put on the album as I have on some. I like the ones on this album. They are there because of my interest in them.”
The Grateful Dead will also be having a new album coming out this summer, which is a sound track from a new movie about them. “The movie will really be about the five-night concert we did at Winterland, the concert and the people,” he said. “It won’t be just a filmed concert, although the music will feature largely. “I’ve been living with the memory of those concerts during the past year. I still get off on them.”
And of course, there is the always asked question about the reunion of the Grateful Dead. Jerry cleared that up quick. “We will be rehearsing in about a month and we will probably continue to rehearse for a couple of months and then go out and play.
Besides creating a lot of good albums, what else has Jerry Garcia been into lately?
“Well, I’ve been listening to a lot of piano. I’ve been getting more into keyboards, harmony, chord voicing and arrangements. The kinds of things I am interested in are modern instruments, modern approaches. By modern I mean 20th Century.
What happened to the famous $200,000 sound system that the Grateful Dead bought?
“Well, the most part of it is in mothballs. Some parts of it are out helping other bands like Kingfish. “We have plans, some time or other, to build ourselves a place to perform that would be like our home base. I think the direction we would like to go toward would be to install some kind of permanent sound system that could use the place as a building to perform, and as a lab to new kinds of ideas. “It would not be large but it would be large enough to have concerts in and to present ourselves in. It would be somewhere between one and three thousand capacity.”

GRATEFUL DEAD DISCOGRAPHY:

1967 The Grateful Dead
1968 Anthem of the Sun
1969 Aoxomoxoa
1969 Live dead
1970 Workingman’s Dead
1970 American Beauty
1971 Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses)
1972 Europe ’72 (Live)
1973 History of the Grateful Dead (Bear’s Choice)
1973 Wake of the Flood
1974 Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel
1975 Blues for Allah
1976 Steal your Face (Live)
1977 Terrapin Station
1978 Shakedown Street
1980 Go to Heaven
1981 Reckoning (Acoustic Live)
1981 Dead Set (Electric Live)
1987 In the Dark
1989 Dylan & the Dead
1989 Built to Last
1990 Without a Net (Live)

JERRY GARCIA BAND DISCOGRAPHY:

1971 Hooteroll? (w/ Howard Wales)
1972 Garcia
1973 Live at Keystone (w/ Merl Saunders)
1974 Compliments
1976 Reflections
1978 Cats Under the Stars
1982 Run for the Roses
1988 Almost Acoustic (Live)
1991 Jerry Garcia Band (Live)
1991 Garcia Grisman
1993 Not For Kids Only (w/ Grisman)
1996 Shady Grove (w/ Grisman)
1997 How Sweet it is (Live)
1998 So What (w/ Grisman)
2001 Dont Let Go (Live)
2001 Shining Star (Live)
2004 After Midnight (Live 1980)
2005 Garcia Plays Dylan (Live)
2009 Let it Rock (Live 1975)

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE JERRY GARCIA PHOTOS:
GRATEFUL DEAD PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
JERRY GARCIA PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
JERRY GARCIA FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

JERRY GARCIA AND DONNA JEAN GODCHAUX OF THE JERRY GARCIA BAND PERFORMING ON 10-27-78. PHOTO BY BEN UPHAM.

THE JERRY GARCIA BAND-
“HOW SWEET IT WAS”
BY BEN UPHAM

After becoming an official “Deadhead” at the Winterland 12-27-77 show I was anxious to see the band again as soon as possible. My next actual Grateful Dead show wouldn’t take place for 3 1/2 years (6-14-80 Spokane), however, just as special, on October 27,1978 at the “Performing Arts Pavilion” at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wa. (about 15 miles from Spokane) I saw this fine double bill. The Bob Weir Band was opening and the Jerry Garcia Band were the headliners…Both bands were on the road together for a very brief, three show tour, hitting Portland, Cheney, and Seattle. They were promoting their new solo albums, “Heaven help the Fool” for Weir and “Cats Under the Stars” for Garcia, both are excellent records that were selling well at the “Eucalyptus Records” store that I worked at in Spokane.
Anticipation grew for this “Dead Event”, and some good friends of mine from Ford, Wa. (25 miles North of Spokane) were turning their van into an official “Garcia Tour Bus” packing it full of friendly Hippie folks that were heading to the show!
We all got prepared for the show (as good Deadheads do) and made our way into the venue on campus. The Bob Weir Band played first and it was a high energy set that sounded great! The band featured Weir on Guitar and Vocals, Bobby Cochrane on Guitar and Vocals, Brent Mydland on Keyboards, Dee Murray on Bass and John Maucer on Drums. They played a set mostly comprised of tracks from the new record, but threw in a few songs that the Deadheads could really relate to such as “Minglewood” and’ Lazy Lightning”.
“Poison Ivy”, “Easy to Slip” and “Shade of Grey” were the standouts for me.
After a short intermission Garcia and his band took the stage. No announcement at all, they just walked on and the crowd went nuts!
This incarnation of the Jerry Garcia Band consisted of Garcia on Guitar and Vocals, Keith Godchaux on Electric Grand Piano, John Kahn on Bass, Buzz Buchanan on the Drums and Donna Jean Godchaux & Maria Muldaur on Vocals.
The band was amazing…They came to jam, and jam they did! The first set was 65 minutes of pure Heavenly Rock Music like I had never heard before! It was so unique from the Dead, yet had so much in common as well.
Set 1:
How Sweet it Is
Catfish John
That’s what Love will make You Do
Russian Lullabye
Second that Emotion
Mystery Train
Each song was an open doorway to jamming and soloing…Garcia was playing wonderfully and having a great time. John Kahn was as good on Bass as Lesh and really complimented Jerry’s style. All of my JGB Photos are from this show.
After their break the Band came back out for a killer second set that included three songs from the new record.
Set 2:
Love in the Afternoon
Tore Up
Ruben & Cherise
Gomorrah
I’ll be with Thee
Midnight Moonlight
Everybody left the show very satisfied and happy and we all gathered outside for a big outdoor party well into the night…

My next experience with the Garcia Band came almost three years later on August 7, 1981 at “Freeborn Hall” on the University of California at Davis Campus. I was living just North of Redding, Ca. at the time. This show took place on a very hot day. I believe that it was 104 degrees outside, and unfortunately the venue had no air conditioning (or it wasn’t working). I believe that it was the same temperature inside the building, only much more humid from the mass of sweaty Deadhead bodies!
The Garcia Band had some different players this time. Kahn was still there on Bass, this time joined by Melvin Seals on Organ, Jimmy Warren on Electric Piano and Clavinet, Daoud Shaw on the Drums, and Essra Mohawk & Liz Stires on Vocals.
Set one was about 50 minutes in length (possibly shortened due to the heat?) and consisted of:
Set 1:
The Way you do the Things You Do
They Love each Other
Simple Twist of Fate
Second that Emotion
Deal
The version of “Simple Twist of Fate” (Bob Dylan song) was the standout, with Kahn showing us all his great abilities as a soloist on the Bass.
When the Band came back out for the second set it was just plain uncomfortable in that building! Sticky is an understatement! But the set we heard was SO COOL that it made things bearable…
Set 2:
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Roadrunner
Night they Drove Old Dixie Down
Dear Prudence
Midnight Moonlight
The version of “Heavens Door” was out of this World! Jerry was playing all these gentle delicate notes that were bouncing off of the tops of everyone’s heads. The rush that it created seemed to divert attention from the dreadful heat!

About eight months later we got to celebrate Saint Patricks Day with the Jerry Garcia Band in Chico, Ca. at Chico State University.
This show was taking place under much mellower weather conditions (thank God).
The Band personnel was only slightly different from the Davis show, as they had replaced Drummer Shaw with Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead! This show had it’s own VERY UNIQUE twist of fate to it making it stand out as a very rare and historic Jerry Garcia Band show!
The show was scheduled to start at 7:00 and at about 6:30 there was an announcement from the stage that the show was going to be running a little bit late since Bass player John Kahn was brokedown on the road about a hundred miles away…Okay….Just light up another joint, relax and wait for the Bass player…right?
NO….As it turns out there was another Bass player in attendance that was VERY ABLE to hop up and join the Band onstage for the entire first set! He just so happened to live in Chico and was an old buddy of Jerry’s anyway! The Band takes the stage at about 7:10 with none other than Dave Torbert on Bass from the original New Riders of the Purple Sage! Dave played like he had been with the Band for years! Absolutely saved the day!
Set 1:
How sweet it is
Catfish John
Simple Twist of Fate
Let it Rock
Sitting Here in Limbo
Mystery Train
Torbert’s showing up was indeed a Twist of Fate that kept us all from Limbo…The whole set was the Highlight!
By the time the second set rolled around John Kahn was there and we were treated to a sweet second set that consisted of:
Set 2:
Sugaree
I’ll Take A Melody
Tore Up
Russian Lullabye
Night they Drove Old Dixie Down
Dear Prudence
Tangled up in Blue
“Melody” and “Lullabye” were the second set killers this time. A very enjoyable show that was quite historic in the guest Bass player scenario.

Sadly, I would only see one more Garcia Band show, but happily it was probably the BEST ONE!
Over eleven years had passed by since the Magical event took place in Chico. I recall seeing that the Garcia Band announced a show in Seattle and I scored a ticket pronto! The show took place at “Memorial Stadium” right underneath the Space Needle in the heart of Seattle. It was on the same date as the dreadfully HOT Davis show from 1981….August 7th. Only this time in was the year 1993 and it was outdoors on a PERFECT DAY…75 degrees, gentle breezes, and clear Blue Skies! Perfect weather for an amazing show!
We drove over from Spokane (275 miles, roughly a 5 hour drive). The place was PACKED! And there was a pretty bad back-up of people waiting to get in. I’m not sure if it was caused by the security search or what but the HUGE LINE was moving very slowly and it was approaching time for the show!
As I was about 25 people away from the point of entry I heard the Band start playing “How Sweet it is”…and I still had a ways to go once I got in, this was a very large stadium! Slightly frustrated by the slow proceedings getting in the security started to “Hurry Up” a bit once they heard the Band was playing. “How Sweet” is normally a 7-10 minute song and it took all of it for me to just get where I could actually see the field! From that point it was SMOOTH SAILING…I made my way down from the nosebleed section to the field as the band was playing their second song, “Stop that Train”. Everything was starting to sound really good as I made my way down onto the field.
I found my “Sweet Spot” about 40 yards from the stage, Dead Center. I Lit up a joint and smiled at the sky! Then the band played a song I had never heard before…”The Maker” (by Daniel Lanois) and it was a purely blissful time…Everything around me was in perfect Harmony with the Moment…Huge Smiles on all the faces I could see, Wonderful Twirling Dancers everywhere, and…as I turned around to take in the view of the whole stadium I noticed that the place had “Tye-Dye Flags” all around the entire perimeter of the stadium. I really cannot describe accurately the feeling of joy and peace that came to me during that song. Melvin Seals was playing gorgeous Piano fills around Jerrys echoed leads and the background vocals by Gloria Jones & Jaclyn LaBranch were simply beautiful. David Kemper was the Drummer this time around. The song ended with Jerry and Melvin having a Musical conversation between their instruments that was really delicate and tender…the notes drifting up high into the clear Blue Sky, just Amazing stuff…
At this point I am totally dialed in to the energy of the Moment and appreciating all of the great talent that is in front of me. The rest of the first set was spectacular, with the highlight being the Crying Solo by Jerry in “Like a Road”…
Set 1:
How Sweet it is
Stop that Train
The Maker
Run for the Roses
Like a Road
Lay Down Sally
Sisters & Brothers
Deal
For the second set I made a very smart move. I made my way up to the VERY FRONT…Right in front of Jerry…where I could make some eye contact with him…The second set started very cool…Nice and slow…working it’s way into the first song which was “Shining Star”…I had never heard Jerry do this song and it was another Diamond in his Crown that day! The female vocalists were outstanding on this track and gave me massive goosebumps in 75 degree weather! After the nearly 20 minute version of “Shining Star” the band was in high gear and glided right into the best version of “Waiting for a Miracle” that I’d ever heard! Jerrys solos were stunning that day, just cascading huge flows of notes out over the happy crowd. The rest of the set was mind-blowing and totally captivating with every song shining bright and clear…Once again I find myself struggling to find words that can describe these songs…Maybe the Yardbirds said it best when they said, “Over, Under Sideways, Down”, as it seemed like the band went EVERYWHERE!
Set 2:
Shining Star
Waiting for a Miracle
Simple Twist of Fate
Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox
Think
Don’t Let Go
Luck Old Sun
Midnight Moonlight
And with this show I ended my Live Experiences with Jerry Garcia…
I only saw him play live 6 times (2 with the Dead and these 4 with JGB) which by Deadhead standards is a very small amount, being that many Deadheads have seen HUNDREDS of shows. My tastes are very broad Musically and so I never was able to put all of my energy into seeing one artist tons of times…It was more important for me to see as many of the really good ones at least a handful of times.
Jerry Garcia was a superior musician and he played beautifully every time I was at one of his shows…I feel very Blessed to have seen and heard him as I did. When I listen to the Tapes of these shows now I am able to transport myself back in Time to the event, and if I close my eyes I can visualize the things that I saw. It has enriched my life greatly and I thank you for that Mr. Garcia…

JERRY GARCIA BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1971 Hooteroll? (w/ Howard Wales)
1972 Garcia
1973 Live at Keystone (w/ Merl Saunders)
1974 Compliments
1976 Reflections
1978 Cats Under the Stars
1982 Run for the Roses
1988 Almost Acoustic (Live)
1991 Jerry Garcia Band (Live)
1991 Garcia Grisman
1993 Not For Kids Only (w/ Grisman)
1996 Shady Grove (w/ Grisman)
1997 How Sweet it is (Live)
1998 So What (w/ Grisman)
2001 Don’t Let Go (Live)
2001 Shining Star (Live)
2004 After Midnight (Live 1980)
2005 Garcia Plays Dylan (Live)
2009 Let it Rock (Live 1975)
2010 Ragged But Right

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE JERRY GARCIA PHOTOS:
JERRY GARCIA FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
JERRY GARCIA BAND PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM

JERRY GARCIA OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD at WINTERLAND ON 12-27-77. PHOTO by BEN UPHAM

The GRATEFUL DEAD-
“THEIR BUS CAME BY AND I GOT ON”
by BEN UPHAM
Written on September 1, 2011

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area I knew plenty of people who were really into the Grateful Dead. By 1976 I had heard a fair amount of their music, yet it never really grabbed me or made a fan out of me. I felt they sounded good, but they just didn’t rock with the intensity that my favorite bands of the day did (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Grand Funk, Mahogany Rush etc.)
Because of this mindset I had never attended a Grateful Dead concert.
When I moved to Spokane, Wa. in August of 1976 I didn’t consider myself to be a Deadhead at all. That was to change in a big way when I went down to visit my parents for Christmas and New Years in 1977.
My good friend Chris Mulhern convinced me to go see the Dead at Winterland on 12-27-77, the first of their 4-show New Years run.
I already had a ticket for the New Years Eve show in Oakland featuring Sammy Hagar and Heart, but was actually quite excited about seeing the Dead at Winterland, as I was curious as to what all of the buzz was about.
We arrived at Winterland a little early so we could hang out in line and get “ready” for the show. It had been a while since I had gone to a Winterland concert so it was nice spending time reconnecting to its Magical energy!
I figured that it would be a good show, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what was about to happen. It was indeed a show that would change my outlook on life…

One of the first things that I noticed once we were let into the venue was how happy everybody was! Huge smiles and wide grins were plastered over nearly everyone’s face. People were dancing while they walked and I was beginning to sense that something unusually interesting was about to happen.
At most of the Winterland shows I’d photographed over the previous 3 years I had opted for a favorite spot of mine, front row balcony, stage left, as it afforded a great un-obstructed view as well as less bumping! Chris however, convinced me that I’d enjoy the show much better down on the floor, up close to the band and their energy. Not a problem!
We got situated about 15-20 feet from the stage, right in the center. At show time, the concert promoter, my neighbor Bill Graham, came out and introduced the band members one by one to the crowds roar of approval. I was starting to feel an interesting rush from all of the exuberant positive energy coming from the audience!
As the band started in with their opening song, “Bertha”, I realized that “everyone” was dancing! This caused my feet to “get happy” as well and I found myself moving to the sound. The band was loud and clear, the music was full of life and fresh joy. There was a constant stream of joints being passed and the vibe was getting higher by the second! Then Jerry Garcia started his first guitar solo of the evening. Stumbling and climbing, reaching and finding, grinning and glaring, Jerry’s fingers were starting to fly and the appreciative crowd was more than Grateful to be along for the ride!
I was really enjoying the sound, yet it was something much larger that was happening all around me that was really blowing me away. Like a huge dose of shared magic! It was beyond vision or sound, it was like Spiritual community! I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all at this point but I was thoroughly enjoying my first Live Grateful Dead experience!

As the show progressed the energy continued to build at a nice, easy, and comfortable pace. The songs sounded only vaguely like the studio versions I’d heard. They had much more depth and vibrancy in their live presentation and the sound quality was stunningly clean and powerful.
I started to take a few pictures at that point and noticed myself mainly being drawn to shoot Jerry. His unique guitar style sounded like some form of “Cosmic Noodling”…
I noticed that Phil Lesh was playing bass in a way that I had only experienced from Tommy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band, where the Bass would pulse and swell and fill the space around you with a very thick sounding bottom end. Bob Weir was the most unusual sounding rhythm guitarist that I had ever seen or heard as well, sometimes making his guitar sound like a chiming bell! Jerry and Bob were trading off on the lead vocals and both had distinct and pleasing vocal styles, not as “polished” as some lead singers that I’d heard, yet that was refreshing. There was something very interesting about those guys, they seemed to be both normal and unusual at the same time if that is possible.
Towards the end of the 70 minute first set the band pulled off an incredible trick! Jerry’s solo on “Friend of the Devil” started to “walk around my body”…At first I thought that it was just me, but then I noticed that many of the folks around me were spinning around and checking it out as well! The band had turned on some speakers at the back of the arena, and were playing with a quadraphonic mix! At that point the energy turned absolutely Unreal and I felt I was finally starting to connect with the Dead!!!
Their overall sound was quite different than any band I’d ever heard, which is a good thing. The Drummers, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart were in blissful cosmic syncronization. Keith Godchaux was delicately filling in the empty spaces with gentle, subtle piano fills, and his gorgeous wife Donna Jean was singing and dancing and radiating lots of great positive spirit!
The first set ended with a smoking energetic rendition of “The Music Never Stopped” from the “Blues for Allah” album. I was familiar with that song but had never heard it sound so good before!

The Second set really frosted my cake! Ask any Deadhead who possesses a recording of this show and you’ll hear about how fortunate I was to have had that be my first live show by the Dead. “Cold Rain & Snow”, “Lazy Lightning-Supplication”, “Scarlet-Fire”, “Estimated Prophet”, “He’s Gone”, “Truckin”, “Wharf Rat”, “Around & Around” and “Samson”!!!
After that concert I had a craving to hear more of the Dead’s Music and have obtained all of their official stuff and tons of live tapes as well! There’s a lot of it out there if you want it…
Sometime during the second set, I believe that it was during “Estimated Prophet” I had a very interesting epiphany of assumed understanding occur that has amazed me to this day. It seemed to me as if the band had purposely imploded a song with each of the musicians heading off into different musical directions? It made no sense and I could only follow each direction as I concentrated on that particular band member since nothing seemed in harmony. Then, it was like they were reconstructing the main theme of the song and repairing the implosions effects. The song was being rebuilt right in front of you! It was the witnessing of this phenomena that was so amazing. It’s like you were seeing a new song being born right there in front of you.
This was my initiation to the world of the Deadheads and I have met so many wonderful friends through this common appreciation that it’s been a long strange and very fine trip!

My next Dead experience happened almost a year later when I saw the Bob Weir Band and the Jerry Garcia Band play a show in Cheney, Wa. on 10-27-78. Details and memoirs from that evening will be discussed in another article.

The next, and only other time that I saw the Grateful Dead in concert, was on June 14th 1980 at the Coliseum in Spokane, Wa. The Spokane show was equally impressive and I was an official Deadhead by that point in time so I understood what was going on a little bit better.
The morning of the show I headed to the Spokane Sheraton Hotel at around 10:00 A.M. with my wife Jessie and Son Jeremiah (Jerry). We were hoping that the band would be staying there and on arrival we were able to verify that they did have reservations! I had brought along some pictures that I’d shot at the Winterland show as well as four album jackets and a special gift for Jerry that was a picture I’d taken of the timberline on Mt. Spokane with Jerry’s face superimposed in the sky as the Sun… I called it “The Sun of Garcia”. At about 10:30 the band arrived and we approached them with photos in hand… The band huddled around us like a football team and they seemed genuinely interested in the pictures and having a chat. I was having good rapport with Jerry and everything else around me seemed to go out of focus. I asked Jerry if he would sign a few of my photos and the album covers and he said “Sure”. He signed the pictures and the “Terrapin Station”, and “Blues for Allah” and bootleg album “Farewell to Winterland” album jackets but refused to sign the final album as he claimed it was a “lousy recording”, (he was right). After about 10 minutes we said goodbye and were on our way. A short but very sweet encounter with the Grateful Dead that I will always remember fondly!

Whereas the first Dead concert at Winterland in 1977 had a local Bay Area crowd in attendance, the Spokane show had people that had come from Idaho, Montana, California, Oregon, West side of Washington and even Alaska! Although the show was sold out I really wonder how many in attendance were actually from Spokane?
The band were touring in support of their newest album, “Go to Heaven” and had one personnel change since my first Dead show. Brent Mydland had taken the place of Keith Godchaux on keyboards and was doing some of Donna Jean’s harmony parts vocally. Brent made his presence known from the very start of the show as he added a really nice bouncy keyboard solo to the opening song “Alabama Getaway”. He also played and sang one of his own compositions, “Far from me” from the new album later on in the first set.
The Spokane show was every bit as high as the Winterland show and featured excellent renditions of “Friend of the Devil”, “Lost Sailor”, “Looks Like Rain”, “Stella Blue”, and “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” among others! I didn’t bring my camera to the show and of course now, 31 years later, I sure wish I had…

The party continued on after the show and at around 12:30 A.M. I had the brilliant (& rather Stoned) idea to “call up Jerry’s room at the Sheraton” to thank him personally for the excellent show. I dialed the Sheraton and asked to “please be connected to Mr. Jerry Garcia’s room”. The phone started ringing and I knew he wouldn’t pick it up, and then he did! He said “Hello” and I nearly shit! I tried to compose myself and was barely able to utter, “Hi, is this Jerry”. The recognizable voice said, “Yeah man, who’s this”. I told him that it was Ben, the guy he’d met earlier that day in the Sheraton lobby and he said, “Oh yeah, thanks again for the cool photo”. I will admit that I was pretty high at that moment and it was all I could manage to barely squeak out, “Great show tonight Jerry, the Stella Blue made me cry it was so beautiful”. He thanked me and then there was SILENCE… I couldn’t even talk at that point because I was in a state of shock! Honestly, I really didn’t think I would get connected when I made that call. After what seemed like 30 seconds, but was probably 10, I heard pig-like “oinking” sounds, no kidding. This went on for about 5 seconds and then I heard a dial tone.

I saw Jerry play 3 more times as the Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) and he never failed to put a big smile on my soul with his incredible magical music. I have collected several hundred Grateful Dead & JGB concert tapes and now own all of their CD and DVD catalog.
The Grateful Dead are an American Treasure and I find it very interesting that people seem to either love them or can’t stand them, it’s pretty obvious where I stand, yet it took being there to convert me and make me a believer! That is how I got on their Bus and now it’s still going Furthur in 2011…

Ben’s Grateful Dead Recommendations:
Studio Album- “Blues for Allah” (1975)
Live Album- “Live Dead” (1969)
DVD- “Ticket to New Years” (12-31-87)
Favorite Song- “Dark Star”

GRATEFUL DEAD DISCOGRAPHY
1967 The Grateful Dead
1968 Anthem of the Sun
1969 Aoxomoxoa
1969 Live dead
1970 Workingman’s Dead
1970 American Beauty
1971 Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses)
1972 Europe ’72 (Live)
1973 History of the Grateful Dead (Bear’s Choice)
1973 Wake of the Flood
1974 Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel
1975 Blues for Allah
1976 Steal your Face (Live)
1977 Terrapin Station
1978 Shakedown Street
1980 Go to Heaven
1981 Reckoning (Acoustic Live)
1981 Dead Set (Electric Live)
1987 In the Dark
1989 Dylan & the Dead
1989 Built to Last
1990 Without a Net (Live)

CLICK LINKS BELOW TO SEE MORE GRATEFUL DEAD PHOTOS:
GRATEFUL DEAD FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
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GRATEFUL DEAD PHOTOS by BEN UPHAM
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JERRY GARCIA BAND PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
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GRATEFUL DEAD ART BY BEN UPHAM