Loose Leaf Notes

1. She spoke at Bobby Weir’s Celebration of Life gathering in San Francisco on Saturday. She talked about her friendship with Bob and all the shows she has been to over the years.

2. After celebrating to Grateful Dead music at the Buffalo Mountain Brewery with friends and our hometown band Rosebud, Joe and I came home and watched the livestreamed Celebration event, a touching and joyful sharing between speakers and  Dead Heads. At one point, and to the amazement of everyone, a single hawk flew above the crowd when Weir’s wife was speaking on stage.

3. I had to laugh when one of Weir’s daughters told the crowd that Weir was a proud lifetime Democrat and that he referred to the other side without fail as “our friends the Repubs.”

4. Although Bob has been quoted as saying, “No politics, no religion. The stage is not a pulpit or a podium,” and I appreciate that. I also know the good humanitarian work the band did behind the scenes.

5. I pretty much stopped going to Grateful Dead shows after Jerry died in 1995, but I finally saw a show with one of the Dead incarnations in 2022. So it had been a couple of decades since I had seen Bob Weir on stage and, of course, he had changed. I joked that he looked like someone from Gilligan’s Island with his bushy white beard and clamdigger baggy pants.

6. Our hometown celebration was touching and joyful too.

7. The open-to-the-public tribute event was billed as “Let Your Words Be Yours,” taken from the Weir song Cassidy… Fare-thee-well now / Let your life / proceed by its own design / Nothing to tell now / Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine…

8. It’s one of my top favorite Grateful Dead songs, and it was the second one that Rosebud played. I only got this quick clip, which sadly doesn’t include the lyrics, because I was excited to dance to it, and I did.

9. After Rosebud’s set, the stage was open to other musicians. Barry LeNoir played Black Muddy River, a sweetly dark emotional Jerry song. It brought a tear to a few eyes, which was fitting and felt good…I will walk alone by the black muddy river / And sing me a song of my own / I will walk alone by the black muddy river / And listen to the ripples as they moan …

10. There was also this comfort… Sleep in the stars / don’t you cry / Dry your eyes on the wind, la, la, la, la… which was the encore song sung by The Greatful Dead before Jerry died in 1995.

11. It was a communal sing-along dance party.

12. The Grateful Dead has a strong following in Floyd and the surrounding towns and cities.

13. They came out in strong numbers and filled the Brewery and McDaniels Tavern with love, gratitude and celebration.

____________Thirteen Thursday