Reflections On The Garcia
In 1995. August 9, a good friend of mine died…
I heard the news on the radio… I was working at a bar at the time and was getting the place ready for its opening.
“…Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died today due to…”
This news affected far deeper than I had expected. Jerry and I, while never ever having bad words, had drifted apart over the years due to vast differences in lifestyles.
At the time I was just learning to use a computer (Windows 3.1) and the writing program Word.
I had been wanting a stream-of-thought topic to use to practice the program so I decided to write down some memories of my old friend and musical companion. I had the idea of keeping the result as an archive for my clan and as a documentation of my friendship for those who might be interested. But I had no intention of sharing it with the world.
This took me several days and during my second rewrite my boss asked me what I was writing about with such focus. When he found out what it was he asked to read it.
I expected him to give it a cursory scan and make a polite comment and give it back. After checking on him in an hour or so I couldn’t help but ask him what he thought.
“Mesmerizing” he said….
So I did a third editorial rewrite January 4, 1997 and printed up copies gave it to some friends and e.mailed it to others. I had a couple of other blog sites I’d posted it on but they were unsatisfactory to me. The sites messed with my text and it wasn’t until I discovered PDFs that I found a good way to present it.
I thought perhaps maybe ten or fifteen people might show a little interest and, long story short, it has been read by hundreds of folks…
I first offered it here as a PDF download in 2008 when this blog/website was first set up.
This ‘final revision’ version was edited in September of 2009. Cleaned up a little punctuation and added a few minor lines for clarity…smoothed out some of the awkward spots …tried to in any case. I pretty much kept the integrity of the original piece I think…
…the email address on the PDF is incorrect, however
It’s offered free because Jerry believed in doing things for free from time to time.
He would like the idea I think.
Please download and enjoy…
One man’s string of memories made upon the passing of a friend…
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