Coordinates	51°39′5″N5°29′0″N
Name	John Popper
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	John Popper
Born	March 29, 1967
Origin	Cleveland, Ohio
Instrument	Vocals, harmonica, guitar
Genre	Blues rock, Alternative rock, Jam band
Occupation(s)	musician, songwriter, promoter
Years active	1987–present
Label	A&M;, Relix
Associated acts	Blues Traveler The John Popper Project Frogwings The Duskray Troubadors

John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter.

He is most famous for his role as frontman of rock band Blues Traveler performing harmonica, guitar and vocals. He is widely considered a harmonica virtuoso, and is listed by harmonica manufacturer Hohner as a "Featured Artist", an accolade reserved for only the best and most successful harmonica players.

Early life

John Popper was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a Hungarian immigrant who escaped Budapest in the 1950s. Through him, Popper is related to David Popper, a 19th-century European cellist whose many solo works for the cello are staples of the instrument's repertoire. John's mother and brother are lawyers.

Popper was raised in Stamford, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. He attended Davenport Ridge School, Stamford Catholic High School (now Trinity Catholic High School) and Princeton High School (New Jersey). He took lessons on the piano, the cello, and the guitar, but none of those instruments appealed to him and he hated being forced to practice.

He originally wanted to become a comedian, finding he could use humor to make friends and avoid bullies, but when he and a friend performed a routine as The Blues Brothers, he found that he enjoyed musical performance. From there, he took up the harmonica. Popper played trumpet in the Princeton High School Studio Jazz Band, and convinced the teacher to let him play harmonica instead, after an in-class solo on the song "She Blinded Me With Science".

He formed several garage bands with friends in Princeton, New Jersey, one of which evolved into Blues Traveler in 1987. After graduating from high school, the group's members all moved to New York City, where Popper enrolled in The New School for Social Research along with two of his bandmates and high school friend Chris Barron. Popper attended for three years but devoted himself to the band full-time once they signed a record contract in 1990.

Popper has co-written songs with Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Chris Barron, and Jonny Lang. He also frequently appears as a guest performer with musicians both famous and obscure, from a diverse variety of genres. He has performed with, among others, jam bands Spin Doctors, Dave Matthews Band, Phish and most recently, The Allman Brothers Band in 2009; bluesmen Eric Clapton and B.B. King; singer-songwriters Jason Mraz and John Mayer; saxophonist Karl Denson; San Francisco's Culann's Hounds; heavy metal band Metallica; rock trio ZO2 and even with the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, András Simonyi. He sat in with The Smashing Pumpkins on the second day of their acoustic 1997 Bridge School Benefit appearance, contributing harmonica for their song "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"; Popper's solo garnered major applause from the audience. He also performed with the Grateful Dead at a tribute to Bill Graham in 1991.

Side projects

In 1992, Popper conceived the HORDE Festival as a venue to gain exposure for up-and-coming independent musicians. It ran until 1998.

Popper was a part of a one-time studio band brought together in 1997 by New York drummer/songwriter Solomon Deniro. Other players included Trey Gunn, Bernie Worrell, Marc Ribot, and Vernon Reid. The group's only recordings were released as the album Gimme Gimme under the name The Devotees. The same recording was re-released by Deniro in 2001 with the title Solomon.

Popper took over in 1998 as front man of jam-band supergroup Frogwings, which released the live album Croakin' at Toad's. Frogwings was mainly active until 2000.

Recently, Popper formed a rock/jazz/hip-hop fusion group The John Popper Project with DJ Logic, which released an album in 2006 and performs occasionally. He also performs on the album Global Noize by Jason Miles and DJ Logic (2008).

Popper's latest side project is "John Popper & the Duskray Troubadours", which plays Americana roots music.

Popper served as host of the third annual Jammy awards in 2002.

He has been a recurring guest on Howard Stern's and Bill Maher's shows and sits in with The CBS Orchestra on The Late Show with David Letterman on occasion. In 2009, he sat in with The Roots on an episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Popper performed "Something Sweet" with the Duskray Troubadours on the TBS show "Lopez Tonight" on March 1, 2011. He also sat in with the house band for the closing number of the show.

Personal life

Since the success of Blues Traveler, Popper has lived in various locations, including rural Pennsylvania and New Orleans. He currently has a residence near Snohomish, Washington.

In October 1992 Popper was involved in a traffic accident on a motorcycle while traveling to a studio to record for Blues Traveler's third album. The accident put him in a wheelchair for several months, but Popper continued touring with the band despite the difficulties it created.

In 1999, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack brought on by years of compulsive overeating. (He had been diagnosed with diabetes a few years earlier.) Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center performed an emergency angioplasty which saved Popper's life: he had 95% arterial blockage. Popper later underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost a significant amount of weight.

Popper has a tattoo across his chest that says, "I WANT TO BE BRAVE", written backwards. He also occasionally wears glasses.

Weapons collecting

Popper is an avid collector of weaponry, including firearms, swords, and a working $10,000 American Civil War cannon. He cites a fascination with their aesthetic of being "life-savingly efficient" machines. Popper is a supporter of Second Amendment rights, and appeared on an MTV-sponsored roundtable discussion on gun control which included panelists from the Law Enforcement Alliance of America and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He carries weapons in any state where it is allowed, even wearing them onstage. On his Daily Show appearance, he stated that he decided to move away from New Jersey because of the state's tight gun laws. He said that his Bucks County, Pennsylvania property had on which he built a private gun range.

Politics

Popper is a member of the Libertarian Party, and has previously expressed support for the Republican Party. He endorsed George W. Bush in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Popper (with and without Blues Traveler) has played at conventions, fundraisers, and ceremonies for both Republican and Democratic politicians. He has stated that politics do not influence his choice of performance setting.

Popper has said, "I was a bleeding-heart liberal, until I got a job" Popper summed up his political position by saying "I believe in freedom for markets and freedom for individuals, so I guess that makes me a libertarian". His most recent tour was in the Middle East, performing with the Band of the Air Force Reserve and Jamie O'Neal at various military camps.

He has appeared with Rock the Vote and recorded "The Preamble" for the Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote! album.

In November 2008, Popper said, regarding Barack Obama, "this is the first time I've voted for a Democrat, ever."

Religion

Popper was raised Catholic--and for a time attended Stamford Catholic High School in Connecticut; however, he does not actively practice in his adult life. He has described himself as "a recovering Catholic". The song "Trina Magna" was written as an exploration of his religious views.

Legal trouble

In 2003, Popper was arrested for possession of marijuana. Popper was arrested again on March 6, 2007 near Ritzville, Washington by the Washington State Patrol. He was the passenger in his own vehicle, which was stopped for speeding, and was found to be in the possession of a small amount of marijuana and weapons. Popper was released the same night. The vehicle had a stash of hidden compartments which contained four rifles, nine handguns, a switchblade knife, a Taser, a set of brass knuckles, and night vision goggles. The vehicle was temporarily seized.

No charges were filed for the weapons, as they were all registered and securely locked away, and Popper was licensed to carry them, with the exception of the brass knuckles and switchblade knife which Popper agreed to surrender. A deal was reached that allowed the marijuana charge to be dropped if Popper remained free of further drug infractions for one year and attended eight hours of drug counseling. Popper and the driver had been driving back to Washington from Austin, Texas, and Popper likes to visit gun ranges during long trips.

Equipment

.|Popper's trademark hat and custom modified harmonica microphone]] John Popper has expressed a preference for the Hohner Special 20 brand blues harp, calling them "the Porsche of harmonicas".

Popper uses Shure microphones and Mesa Boogie amplifiers, similar to bandmate Chan Kinchla. He also uses D'Addario strings.

Trademark equipment

Popper has developed some equipment innovations to accommodate his use of harmonicas during onstage performances. Because each individual diatonic harmonica is tuned to one particular key, he fashioned belts with enough pockets to hold harmonicas in all 12 keys (plus extras) and wore them as a bandolier, or slung over his neck. He frequently has to switch keys multiple times within one song, and this arrangement allowed him to quickly trade one harmonica for another without looking. In 2002, he stopped using the belts because they no longer fit him properly due to his weight loss; now he carries his harmonicas in a small black attaché case. He uses a special microphone with switches that change the audio effect of the harmonica as it is played through an amplifier, similar to a guitar effects pedal. Popper was inspired by Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing to make his instrument sound however he wanted. He has also fashioned a number of floppy-brimmed hats with flattened harmonica plates on the band, which he almost always wears during appearances with Blues Traveler.

Discography, performances and appearances

Discography

Solo

: Zygote (1999) : Go Outside and Drive (The Vestal Version) single (1999)

with Blues Traveler : See Blues Traveler discography with The Devotees : Gimme Gimme (1997) with Frogwings : Croakin' at Toad's (1999) with The John Popper Project : The John Popper Project with DJ Logic (2006) with The Duskray Troubadours : John Popper & the Duskray Troubadours (2011) : Something Sweet single (2011)

Featured music appearances

"Northbound Train" from Broadway musical soundtrack The Civil War: The Complete Work

Duet with Eric Clapton on "Christmas Blues" from A Very Special Christmas Live

Duet with BB King on "Back Door Santa" from A Very Special Christmas Vol. 5

Solo instrumental track "Harmonica Musings" from the soundtrack of Blues Brothers 2000

Harmonica solos of character Buster Blues in the Blues Brothers 2000 film

"Regarding Steven" from the 2000 compilation VH1 Storytellers Live

"Alone" from Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert, Volume 2

"Devil Got My Woman", "Alone", and "Sign on the Door" from ''Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert, Volume 3"

"The Preamble" from Schoolhouse Rocks The Vote!

Guest music appearances

Television appearances

Popper performed a duet with Dolly Parton on her Treasures television special in 1997

Appeared on a 1996 episode of The Late Show with David Letterman to surprise Manny the Hippie with a harmonica duel

Appeared as a guest on an episode of the Cartoon Network comedy talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Had speaking lines on an episode (#9509 "Of Mice and Dan") of the sitcom Roseanne as character Stingray Wilson, a musician similar to Popper himself (Popper later wrote lyrics for the show's bluesy theme song, which was performed by Blues Traveler in the final season of the show.)

An animated clay caricature of Popper fought a match in the MTV parody series Celebrity Deathmatch. Popper defeated singer Fiona Apple.

Popper appeared on Penn and Teller's Sin City Spectacular, playing harmonica during a card trick performance

Was a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show in 2003 promoting Blues Traveler's album Truth Be Told

Was a celebrity coach in the final round of America's Got Talent

Other appearances

Popper has played his Jimi Hendrix-inspired harmonica rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball games, including the World Series.

Notes and references

External links

John Popper's biography at BluesTraveler.com

John Popper collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Category:1967 births Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:American harmonica players Category:American male singers Category:American rock musicians Category:Rock harmonica players Category:American libertarians Category:Living people Category:Blues Traveler members Category:Live Music Archive artists

Coordinates	51°39′5″N5°29′0″N
Name	Jerry Garcia
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jerome John Garcia
Born	August 1, 1942San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	August 09, 1995Forest Knolls, California, U.S.
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Instrument	Guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, vocals
Genre	Folk rock, jam, bluegrass, country rock, jazz, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, rhythm and blues, blues-rock
Years active	1960–1995
Label	Rhino, Arista, Warner Bros., Acoustic Disc, Grateful Dead
Associated acts	Grateful Dead, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage
Url	JerryGarcia.com
Notable instruments	Gibson SGsGuild Starfire1957 Gibson Les PaulGold-top Les Paul with P-90Fender Stratocaster "Alligator"Doug Irwin-modified Alembic "Wolf" Doug Irwin Custom "Tiger" Doug Irwin Custom "Rosebud"Stephen Cripe Custom "Lightning Bolt," Martin D-28, Takamine acoustic-electric guitars

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.

One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson).

Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after that, he also struggled with heroin addiction, He was born in San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" (née Clifford) Garcia. His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern. Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon "Tiff", who was born in 1937. Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, a move in response to Jose being blackballed from a musician's union for moonlighting.

Garcia was influenced by music at an early age, His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano. while vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Garcia underwent amputation of two-thirds of his right middle finger. Garcia was given the chore of steadying wood while his elder brother chopped, when he inadvertently put his finger in the way of the falling axe. Garcia later confided that he often used it to his advantage in his youth, showing it off to other children in his neighborhood.

Garcia experienced several tragic events during his youth. Less than a year after losing the segment of his finger, his father died. While on vacation with his family near Arcata in Northern California in 1947, his father went fly-fishing in the Trinity River, part of the Six Rivers National Forest. Not long after entering he slipped on a rock underfoot, plunging into the deep rapids of the river. The incident was witnessed by a group of boys who immediately sought help, beckoning a pair of nearby fishermen. By the time he was pulled from the water, he had already drowned. Garcia later claimed to have seen his father fall into the river, but Dennis McNally, author of the book A Long Strange Trip: The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead, asserts that he did not, instead forming the memory from hearing the story repeated many times. According to Garcia, it was around this time that he was opened up to country and to bluegrass by his grandmother, who he recalled enjoyed listening to the Grand Ole Opry. His elder brother, Clifford, however, staunchly believed the contrary, insisting that Garcia was "fantasizing all [that] ... she'd been to Opry, but she didn't listen to it on the radio." It was at this point that Garcia started playing the banjo, his first stringed instrument.

In 1953, Garcia's mother was remarried to a man named Wally Matusiewicz. Subsequently, Garcia and his brother moved back home with their mother and new stepfather. However, due to the roughneck reputation of their neighborhood at the time, the Excelsior District, Garcia's mother moved their family to Menlo Park. Clifford often memorized the vocals for his favorite songs, and would then make Garcia learn the harmony parts, a move to which Garcia later attributed much of his early ear training. Garcia would later reminisce about the first time he smoked marijuana: "Me and a friend of mine went up into the hills with two joints, the San Francisco foothills, and smoked these joints and just got so high and laughed and roared and went skipping down the streets doing funny things and just having a helluva time". During this time, Garcia also took up an art program at the San Francisco Art Institute to further his burgeoning interest in the visual arts.

In June of the same year, Garcia graduated from the local Menlo Oaks school. He then moved with his family back to San Francisco, where they lived in an apartment above the newly built bar, having previously been torn down to make way for a freeway entrance. Two months later, on Garcia's fifteenth birthday, his mother purchased him an accordion, greatly to his disappointment. Garcia's stepfather, who was somewhat proficient with instruments, helped tune his guitar to an unusual open tuning.

After a short stint at Denman Junior High School, Garcia attended tenth grade at Balboa High School in 1958, where he often got into trouble for skipping classes and fighting. Consequently, in 1959, Garcia's mother again moved the family to get Garcia to stay out of trouble, this time to Cazadero, a small town in Sonoma County, 90 miles north of San Francisco. Garcia did, however, join a band at his school known as the Chords. After performing and winning a contest, the band's reward was recording a song—they chose "Raunchy" by Bill Doggett.

Recording career

Relocation and band beginnings

Garcia stole his mother's car in 1960, and as punishment, joined the United States Army. He received basic training at Fort Ord. Garcia spent most of his time in the army at his leisure, missing roll call and accruing many counts of AWOL. As a result, Garcia was given a general discharge on December 14, 1960.

In January 1961, Garcia drove down to East Palo Alto to see Laird Grant, an old friend from middle school. Garcia, using his final paycheck from the army, purchased some gasoline and an old Chevrolet car, which barely made it to Grant's residence before it broke down.

On February 20, 1961, Garcia entered a car with Paul Speegle, a 16-year-old artist and acquaintance of Garcia; Lee Adams, the house manager of the Chateau and driver of the car; and Alan Trist, a companion of theirs. Garcia was hurled through the windshield of the car into a nearby field with such force he was literally thrown out of his shoes and would later be unable to recall the ejection. It was at this time that Garcia began to realize that he needed to begin playing the guitar in earnest—a move which meant giving up his love of drawing and painting.

Garcia met Robert Hunter in April 1960. Hunter would go on to become a long-time lyrical collaborator with the Grateful Dead. Lesh would later write in his autobiography that Garcia resembled the "composer Claude Debussy: dark, curly hair, goatee, Impressionist eyes". Matthews went to high school and was friends with Bob Weir, and on New Year's Eve 1963, he introduced Weir and Garcia to each other. Soon thereafter, Garcia joined a local bluegrass and folk band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, whose membership also included Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, a rhythm and blues fan.

Around this time, the psychedelic LSD was beginning to gain prominence. Garcia first began experimenting with LSD in 1964; later, when asked how it changed his life, he remarked: "Well, it changed everything [...] the effect was that it freed me because I suddenly realized that my little attempt at having a straight life and doing that was really a fiction and just wasn't going to work out. Luckily I wasn't far enough into it for it to be shattering or anything; it was like a realization that just made me feel immensely relieved". The band's immediate reaction was disapproval. "Franklin's Tower",

When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it’s broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they’ll occur in the same places in the song. [...]"

Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995, a stint which gave credit to the name "endless tour". Periodically, there were breaks due to exhaustion or health problems, often due to unstable health and/or Garcia's drug use. During their three decade span, the Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows.

Other groups of which Garcia was a member at one time or another include the Black Mountain Boys, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Jerry Garcia was also an appreciative fan of jazz artists and improvisation: he played with jazz keyboardists Merl Saunders and Howard Wales for many years in various groups and jam sessions, and he appeared on saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1988 album, Virgin Beauty. His collaboration with Merl Saunders and Muruga Booker on the Grammy-nominated world music album Blues From the Rainforest launched the Rainforest Band.

(1972), Garcia's début solo album. Several of the songs featured on the album eventually became concert staples of the Grateful Dead]]

Garcia also spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. He played on over 50 studio albums the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably Surrealistic Pillow, Garcia being listed as their "Spiritual Advisor"), Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter (Liberty, on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan and many more. He was also one of the first musicians to really cover in depth Motown music in the early 1970s and probably the most prolific coverer of Bob Dylan songs. In 1995 Garcia played on three tracks for the CD Blue Incantation by guitarist Sanjay Mishra, making it his last studio collaboration.

Throughout the early 1970s, Garcia, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Mickey Hart, and David Crosby collaborated intermittently with MIT-educated composer and biologist Ned Lagin on several projects in the realm of early electronica; these include the album Seastones (released by the Dead on their Round Records subsidiary) and L, an unfinished dance work.

Garcia also lent pedal-steel guitar playing to fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders of the Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group. He appears as a band member on their début album New Riders of the Purple Sage, and produced Home, Home On The Road, a 1974 live album by the band. He also contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Garcia also played steel guitar licks on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album Tarkio. Despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, Garcia routinely ranked high in player polls. After a long lapse from playing the pedal-steel, he played it once more during several of the Dead's concerts with Bob Dylan during the summer of 1987.

Having studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia embarked on a second career in the visual arts. He offered for sale and auction to the public a number of illustrations, lithographs, and water colors. Some of those pieces became the basis of a line of men's neckties characterized by bright colors and abstract patterns. Even in 2005, ten years after Garcia's death, new styles and designs continued to be produced and sold.

Personal life

Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, in 1963.

Garcia and his fellow musicians were subjected to a handful of drug busts during their lifetime. On October 2, 1967, 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco (where the Grateful Dead had taken up residence the year before) was raided after a police tip-off. The following year, ironically, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon.

Most of the Grateful Dead were arrested again in January 1970, after they flew to New Orleans from Hawaii.

Death

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 am, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, a site sacred to the Hindus. Then, according to Garcia's last wishes, the other half of his ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Deborah Koons did not allow one of Garcia's ex-wives, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, to attend the spreading of the ashes.

Musical equipment

Garcia played many guitars during his career, which ranged from Fender Stratocasters and Gibson SGs to custom-made instruments. During his thirty-odd years of being a musician, Garcia used about twenty-five different guitars.

In 1965, when Garcia was playing with the Warlocks, he used a Guild Starfire,

In 1972, Garcia used a Fender Stratocaster nicknamed Alligator for its alligator sticker on the pickguard.

In the late eighties Garcia, Weir and CSN (along with many others) endorsed Alvarez Yairi acoustic guitars. There are many photographs circulating (mostly promotional) of Jerry playing a DY99 Virtuoso Custom with a Modulus Graphite neck. He opted to play with the less decorated model but the promotional photo from the Alvarez Yairi catalog has him holding the "tree of life" model. This hand-built guitar was notable for the collaboration between Japanese luthier Kazuo Yairi and Modulus Graphite of San Rafael. As with most things Garcia, with his passing, the DY99 model is rendered legend and valuable among collectors.

Wolf was made with an ebony fingerboard and featured numerous embellishments like alternating grain designs in the headstock, ivory inlays, and fret marker dots made of sterling silver. The body was composed of western maple wood which had a core of purpleheart. Garcia later had former Alembic employee Doug Irwin replace the electronics inside the guitar, at which point he added his own logo to the headstock alongside the Alembic logo. The system included two interchangeable plates for configuring pickups: one was made for strictly single coils, while the other accommodated humbuckers. Shortly after receiving the modified instrument, Garcia requested another custom guitar from Irwin with the advice "don't hold back." and therefore could not have been used during a European tour in 1972. Additionally Doug states that Jerry paid Doug directly and that Doug's contracts were between Doug and Jerry. Wolf is clearly an Irwin Guitar and only in recent revisionist history is Wolf referenced as an Alembic.

Nearly seven years after he first requested it, Garcia received his third custom guitar from Irwin in 1979(The first Irwin was "Eagle", the second was "Wolf"). The first concert that Jerry played Tiger was August 4, 1979 at the Oakland Auditorium Arena. The body of Tiger was of rich quality: the top layer was cocobolo, with the preceding layers being maple stripe, vermilion, and flame maple, in that order. It was similar to his previous guitar Tiger in many respects, but featured different inlays and electronics, tone and volume controls, and weight. Rosebud, unlike Tiger, was configured with three humbuckers; the neck and bridge pickups shared a tone control, while the middle had its own. Inside the guitar, a Roland GK-2 synthesizer was used in junction with GR-50 rack mount, producing the MIDI effects heard during live performances of this period. The guitar used Brazilian rosewood for the fingerboard and East Indian rosewood for the body, which, with admitted irony from Cripe, was taken from a 19th century bed used by opium smokers. The remaining Grateful Dead members disagreed—they considered his guitars to be property of the band, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties.

Legacy

Garcia appeared in the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind as an extra during the scenes in India in a crowd shot. During the following year, the Grateful Dead would occasionally improvise the theme from "Close Encounters" in concert.

In 1987, ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's came out with Cherry Garcia, which is named after the guitarist and consists of "cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes".

Garcia was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead in 1994.

Famous guitar player and known Jerry fan Warren Haynes wrote the song "Patchwork Quilt" in memory of Jerry.

In the episode titled "Halloween: The Final Chapter" on the show Roseanne, aired shortly after his death on October 31, 1995, a tribute to Jerry Garcia was made, and the character name of the baby was Jerry Garcia Conner.

In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Jerry Garcia 13^th in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

On July 30, 2004, Melvin Seals was the first Jerry Garcia Band member to headline an outdoor music and camping festival called the Grateful Garcia Gathering. The festival is a tribute to the Grateful Dead's guitarist Jerry Garcia. "Jerry Garcia Band" drummer David Kemper, joined Melvin Seals & JGB in 2007. To date, other musicians and friends of Jerry's have also included Donna Jean Godchaux, Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears, G.E. Smith, Barry Sless, and Jackie Greene to name a few musicians.

On July 21, 2005, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission passed a resolution to name the amphitheater in McLaren Park "The Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." The amphitheater is located in the Excelsior District, where Garcia grew up. The first show to happen at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater was Jerry Day 2005 on August 7, 2005. Tiff Garcia was the first person to welcome everybody to the "Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." Jerry Day is an annual celebration of Jerry in his childhood neighborhood. The dedication ceremony (Jerry Day 2) on October 29, 2005 was officiated by mayor Gavin Newsom.

On September 24, 2005, the Comes a Time: A Celebration of the Music & Spirit of Jerry Garcia tribute concert was held at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. The concert featured Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Michael Kang, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Karan, Robin Sylvester, Kenny Brooks, Melvin Seals, Merl Saunders, Marty Holland, Stu Allen, Gloria Jones, and Jackie LaBranch.

Also in 2008, Georgia-based composer Lee Johnson released an orchestral tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead, recorded with the Russian National Orchestra, entitled "Dead Symphony: Lee Johnson Symphony No. 6." Johnson was interviewed on NPR on the July 26, 2008 broadcast of "Weekend Edition", and gave much credit to the genius and craft of Garcia's songwriter. A live performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Johnson himself, was held Friday, August 1.

Seattle rock band Soundgarden wrote and recorded the instrumental song "Jerry Garcia's Finger", dedicated to the singer, which was released as a b-side with their single "Pretty Noose".

Numerous music festivals across the United States and Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK hold annual events in memory of Jerry Garcia.

Punk band NOFX has a song "August 8th" that makes light of Garcia's death, calling it "such a beautiful day" and "like waking up from a real bad dream." After the release of the album containing "August 8th", Heavy Petting Zoo, it was brought to the attention of singer/bassist Fat Mike that Garcia actually died August 9.

Discography

Jerry Garcia

*Garcia – 1972

*Compliments – 1974

*Reflections – 1976

*Run for the Roses – 1982

Jerry Garcia Band

*Cats Under the Stars – 1978

*Jerry Garcia Band – 1991

*How Sweet It Is – 1997

*Don't Let Go – 2001

*Shining Star – 2001

* – 2004

* – 2009

Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band

*Almost Acoustic – 1988

*Ragged but Right – 2010

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders

*Heavy Turbulence – with Tom Fogerty – 1972 (LP)

*Fire Up – 1973 (LP)

*Live at the Keystone – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1973 (LP)

*Keystone Encores, Volume 1 – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (LP)

*Keystone Encores, Volume 2 – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (LP)

*Live at the Keystone Vol. 1 – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*Live at the Keystone Vol. 2 – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*Keystone Encores – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*Fire Up Plus – with John Kahn, Tom Fogerty and Ron Tutt – 1992 (CD)

*Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 – Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders – 2004 (also listed under Pure Jerry series)

* – Legion of Mary – 2005

*Well Matched: The Best Of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia – 2006 (also listed under Compilations)

New Riders of the Purple Sage

*New Riders of the Purple Sage – 1971

*Before Time Began – 1986

*Vintage NRPS – 1986

Old and in the Way

*Old and in the Way – 1975

*That High Lonesome Sound – 1996

*Breakdown – 1997

*Live at the Boarding House – 2008

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

*Garcia/Grisman – 1991

*Not for Kids Only – 1993

*Shady Grove – 1996

*So What – 1998

*The Pizza Tapes (featuring Tony Rice) – 2000

*Grateful Dawg – 2001

*Been All Around This World – 2004

Compilations

*All Good Things – 2004 (box set of studio albums Garcia, Compliments, Reflections, Cats Under The Stars, ''Run For The Roses', as well as outtakes, jams, and alternate versions)

*Garcia Plays Dylan – 2005

*The Very Best of Jerry Garcia – 2006

*Well Matched: The Best Of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia – 2006

Pure Jerry — a series of live concert CDs licensed by the Garcia Family LLC.

*Theatre 1839, July 29 & 30, 1977 – Jerry Garcia Band – 2004

Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 – Jerry Garcia Band and Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band – 2004     (This album is one of 10 "live jam releases of this century" according to the August issue of Guitar One magazine.)

*Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15 – 30, 1987 – Jerry Garcia Band and Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band – 2004

*Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 – Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders – 2004

*Merriweather Post Pavilion, September 1 & 2, 1989 – Jerry Garcia Band – 2005

*Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 – Jerry Garcia Band – 2005

*Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 – Jerry Garcia Band – 2006 (with Bruce Hornsby)

*Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, February 28, 1986 – Jerry Garcia and John Kahn – 2009

*Bay Area, 1978 – Jerry Garcia Band – 2009

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With other artists

*Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane – 1967

*Volunteers – Jefferson Airplane – 1970

*Tarkio – Brewer & Shipley – 1970

*Déjà Vu – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – 1970

*Blows Against the Empire – Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship – 1970

*Marrying Maiden – It's a Beautiful Day – 1970

*Stephen Stills 2 – Stephen Stills – 1971

*Hooteroll? – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia – 1971

*If I Could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby – 1971

*Sunfighter – Paul Kantner and Grace Slick – 1971

*Powerglide – New Riders of the Purple Sage – 1972

*Songs for Beginners – Graham Nash – 1972

*Graham Nash David Crosby – Graham Nash and David Crosby – 1972

*Excalibur – Tom Fogerty – 1972

*Ace - Bob Weir - 1972

*Keith & Donna – Keith Godchaux and Donna Jean Godchaux – 1975

*Virgin Beauty – Ornette Coleman – 1988

*Devout Catalyst – Ken Nordine – 1992

*Astronauts & Heretics – Thomas Dolby – 1992

*Blue Incantation – Sanjay Mishra and Jerry Garcia – 1994

*Trios – Rob Wasserman – 1994

*Side Trips, Volume One – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia – 1998

*Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions – Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions – 1999

Notes and references

External links

The Jerry Site

Official Grateful Dead Website

Jerry Garcia discography at deaddisc.com

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