The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band (4 GHz to 8 GHz) - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications transmissions, some Wi-Fi devices, some cordless telephones, and some weather radar systems. For satellite communications, the microwave frequencies of the C-band perform better under adverse weather conditions in comparison with K_u band (11.2 GHz to 14.5 GHz) microwave frequencies, which are used by another large set of communication satellites.^[1] The adverse weather conditions, collectively referred to as rain fade, all have to do with moisture in the air, including rain and snow.

The NATO C-band[link]

The NATO C-band is that portion of the radio spectrum between 500 megahertz (MHz) and 1000 MHz, but this terminology is rarely used in the NATO members that are located in North America.

The IEEE C-band[link]

C-band antennas of this type became widespread in the United States in the 1950s

The IEEE C-band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 gigahertz (GHz),^[2] but this definition is the one that is followed by radar manufacturers and users, but not necessarily by microwave radio telecommunications users.

The communications C-band was the first frequency band that was allocated for commercial telecommunications via satellites. The same frequencies were already in use for terrestrial microwave radio relay chains. Nearly all C-band communication satellites use the band of frequencies from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz for their downlinks, and the band of frequencies from 5.925 GHz to 6.425 GHz for their uplinks. Note that by using the band from 3.7 to 4.0 GHz, this C-band overlaps somewhat into the IEEE S-band for radars.

The C-band communication satellites typically have 24 radio transponders spaced 20 MHz apart, but with the adjacent transponders on opposite polarizations. [1] Hence, the transponders on the same polarization are always 40 MHz apart. Of this 40 MHz, each transponder utilizes about 36 MHz. (The unused 4.0 MHz between the pairs of transponders acts as "guard bands" for the likely case of imperfections in the microwave electronics.)

The C-band is primarily used for open satellite communications, whether for full-time satellite TV networks or raw satellite feeds, although subscription programming also exists. This use contrasts with direct broadcast satellite, which is a completely closed system used to deliver subscription programming to small satellite dishes that are connected with proprietary receiving equipment.

The satellite communications portion of the C-band is highly associated with television receive-only satellite reception systems, commonly called "big dish" systems, since small receiving antennas are not optimal for C-band systems. Typical antenna sizes on C-band capable systems ranges from 7.5 to 12 feet (2.5 to 3.5 meters) on consumer satellite dishes, although larger ones also can be used.

The C-band frequencies of 5.4 GHz band [5.15 to 5.35 GHz, or 5.47 to 5.725 GHz, or 5.725 to 5.875 GHz, depending on the region of the world] is used for IEEE 802.11a Wi-Fi and cordless telephone applications, leading to occasional interference with some weather radars that are also allocated to the C-band.

C-band variations[link]

Slight variations in the assignments of C-band frequencies have been approved for use in various parts of the world, depending on their locations in the three International Telecommunications Union radio regions. Note that one region includes all of the Americas; a second includes all of Europe and Africa, plus all of Russia, and the third region includes all of Asia outside of Russia, plus Australia and New Zealand. This latter region is the most populous one, since it includes the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Amateur radio[link]

The Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union allow amateur radio operations in the frequency range 5.650 to 5.925 GHz, and amateur satellite operations are allowed in the ranges 5.830 to 5.850 GHz for down-links and 5.650 to 5.670 GHz for up-links. This is known as the 5-centimeter band by amateurs and the C-band by AMSAT.

Other microwave bands[link]

The microwave spectrum is usually defined as the electromagnetic spectrum that ranges from 1.0 GHz to 30 GHz in frequency, but some antiquated usages includes lower frequencies. Most common applications are within the 1.0 to 30 GHz range. Microwave frequency bands, as defined by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), are shown in the table below. Note that frequencies above 30 GHz are typically said to be in the "millimeter wave". because their wavelengths can be conveniently measured in millimeters (mm). The frequency of 30 GHz corresponds quite closely to a wavelength of 10 mm, or 1.0 centimeter.

Footnote: "P-band" is sometimes incorrectly used for the Ku-band. "P" for "previous" was a radar band used in the United Kingdom that ranged from 250 to 500 MHz, which is now completely obsolete by the IEEE Standard 521, see [2] and [3]. For other definitions see Letter Designations of Microwave Bands

Fiber optic communications[link]

In infrared optical communications, C-band refers to the wavelength range 1530–1565 nm, which corresponds to the amplification range of erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs).^[3]

See also[link]

• Big ugly dish
• Communications satellite
• Satellite dish
• Television receive-only
• 4DTV

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• The VSAT Installation Manual Video Presentation shows examples of the arrangement of the Feed for c-band polarization requirements
• VSAT Installation Manual with explanation of c-band polarization requirements for a VSAT

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Invite Them Up (2005)
• These Are Jokes (2006)
• Demetri Martin. Person. (2007)
• Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009–2010)

Filmography and television work[link]

Written works[link]

• This Is a Book, April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Official website
• Demetri Martin on Myspace
• Demetri Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club
• Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia
• Article, in The Scotsman
• Article, in Gelf Magazine
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• MP3 Audio Interview on The Sound of Young America public radio show and podcast
• Interview Believer Mag
• New Jersey Monthly Magazine
• Fresh Air, NPR.org

Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson (possibly December 5, 1912^[2] – May 25, 1965)^[5][3] was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi.^[6] He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills. He recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s, and had a direct influence on later blues and rock performers. He should not be confused with another leading blues performer, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, who died in 1948.

Biography[link]

Year of birth[link]

Born as Alex Miller (pronounced "Aleck") on the Sara Jones Plantation in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, his date and year of birth are a matter of uncertainty. He claimed to have been born on December 5, 1899, but Dr. David Evans, professor of music and an ethnomusicologist at the University of Memphis,^[7] claims to have found census record evidence that he was born around 1912, being seven on February 2, 1920, the day of the census.^[8][9] His gravestone, set up by record company owner Lillian McMurry twelve years after his death, gives his date of birth as March 11, 1908,^[10] but the birth date on that stone is certainly incorrect.^[5]

Early years[link]

He lived and worked with his sharecropper stepfather, Jim Miller, whose last name he soon adopted, and mother, Millie Ford, until the early 1930s. Beginning in the 1930s, he traveled around Mississippi and Arkansas and encountered Big Joe Williams, Elmore James and Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, who would play guitar on his later Checker Records sides. He was also associated with Robert Johnson during this period. Miller developed his style and raffish stage persona during these years. Willie Dixon recalled seeing Lockwood and Miller playing for tips in Greenville, Mississippi in the 1930s. He entertained audiences with novelties such as inserting one end of the harmonica into his mouth and playing with no hands.

In 1941 Miller was hired to play the King Biscuit Time show, advertising the King Biscuit brand of baking flour on radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas with Lockwood.

It was at this point that the radio program's sponsor, Max Moore, began billing Miller as Sonny Boy Williamson, apparently in an attempt to capitalize on the fame of the well known Chicago-based harmonica player and singer Sonny Boy Williamson (birth name John Lee Williamson, died 1948). Although John Lee Williamson was a major blues star who had already released dozens of successful and widely influential records under the name "Sonny Boy Williamson" from 1937 onward, Aleck Miller would later claim to have been the first to use the name, and some blues scholars believe that Miller's assertion he was born in 1899 was a ruse to convince audiences he was old enough to have used the name before John Lee Williamson, who was born in 1914 (see year of birth section above). Whatever the methodology, Miller became commonly known as "Sonny Boy Williamson," (universally distinguished by blues fans and musicians as "Sonny Boy Williamson number two" or "Sonny Boy Williamson the second") and Lockwood and the rest of his band were billed as the King Biscuit Boys.

Radio show in Memphis[link]

In 1949 he relocated to West Memphis, Arkansas and lived with his sister and her husband, Howlin' Wolf. (Later, for Checker Records, he did a parody of Howlin' Wolf entitled "Like Wolf.") Sonny Boy started his own KWEM radio show from 1948 to 1950 selling the elixir Hadacol.

Sonny Boy also brought his King Biscuit musician friends to West Memphis, Elmore James, Houston Stackhouse, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Robert Nighthawk and others to perform on KWEM Radio.

In the 1940s Williamson married Mattie Gordon, who remained his wife until his death.

Recording career[link]

Trumpet Records

Williamson's first recording session took place in 1951 for Lillian McMurry of Jackson, Mississippi's Trumpet Records, three years after the death of John Lee Williamson, which for the first time allowed some legitimacy to Miller's carefully worded claim to being "the one and only Sonny Boy Williamson". McMurry later erected Williamson's headstone, near Tutwiler, Mississippi, in 1977.

Checker Records

When Trumpet went bankrupt in 1955, Sonny Boy's recording contract was yielded to its creditors, who sold it to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. Sonny Boy had begun developing a following in Chicago beginning in 1953, when he appeared there as a member of Elmore James's band. It was during his Chess years that he enjoyed his greatest success and acclaim, recording about 70 songs for Chess subsidiary Checker Records from 1955 to 1964. Sonny Boy's first LP record was titled Down and Out Blues and was released by Checker Records in 1959.

Ace Records

One single, "Boppin' With Sonny" b/w "No Nights By Myself" was released with Ace Records in 1955.^[11]

1960s European tours[link]

In the early 1960s he toured Europe several times during the height of the British blues craze (see American Folk Blues Festival), recording with The Yardbirds (see album: Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds) and The Animals, and appearing on several TV broadcasts throughout Europe. During this time Sonny was quoted as saying, " those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do". According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, while in England Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator. The book also maintains that future Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant purloined one of the bluesman's harmonicas at one of these shows as well. Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" mentions that during this tour he allegedly stabbed a man during a street fight and left the country abruptly.

Sonny Boy took a liking to the European fans, and while there had a custom-made, two-tone suit tailored personally for him, along with a bowler hat, matching umbrella, and an attaché case for his harmonicas. He appears credited as "Big Skol" on Roland Kirk's live album Kirk in Copenhagen (1963).^[12] One of his final recordings from England, in 1964, featured him singing "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" with Hubert Sumlin providing the guitar. Due to his many years of relating convoluted, highly fictionalized accounts of his life to friends and family, upon his return to the Delta, some expressed disbelief upon hearing of Sonny Boy's touring across the Atlantic, visiting Europe, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and other landmarks, and recording there.

Return to the U.S. and death[link]

Upon his return to the U.S., he resumed playing the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA, and performed in the Helena, Arkansas area. As fellow musicians Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis waited at the KFFA studios for Williamson on May 25, 1965, the 12:15 broadcast time was closing in and Sonny Boy was nowhere in sight. Peck left the radio station to locate Williamson, and discovered his body in bed at the rooming house where he had been staying, dead of an apparent heart attack suffered in his sleep the night before.

Williamson is buried on New Africa Rd. just outside Tutwiler, Mississippi at the site of the former Whitman Chapel cemetery. His headstone was provided by Mrs. Lillian McMurry, owner of Trumpet Records; the death date shown on the stone is incorrect.^[5]

Legacy[link]

Recording anthology[link]

Some of his better known songs include "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" (his only major hit, it reached the #3 position on the national Billboard R&B charts in 1955),"Fattenin' Frogs for Snakes", "Keep It To Yourself", "Your Funeral and My Trial", "Bye Bye Bird", "Nine Below Zero", "Help Me", "Checkin' Up on My Baby", and the infamous "Little Village", with dialogue 'unsuitable for airplay' with Leonard Chess. His song "Eyesight to the Blind" was performed by The Who as a key song in their rock opera Tommy (the only song in that opus not written by a band member) and it was later covered on the Aerosmith album Honkin' on Bobo.^[13] His "One Way Out", reworked from Elmore James and recorded twice in the early 1960s, became popularized by The Allman Brothers Band in the early 1970s. In interviews in The Last Waltz, roots-rockers The Band recount jamming with Miller prior to their initial fame as Bob Dylan's electric backing band, and making never-realized plans to become his backing band. Many of his most famous recordings appeared on The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson and His Best.

Musical influence[link]

While tall tales, unlikely fables and outright lies make up much of what Sonny Boy Williamson II had to say about his own life, his most important contributions have been documented well through countless recordings on myriad labels. His output of recordings, both issued and unissued, for Lillian McMurray's Trumpet label, can be found on Arhoolie, Alligator, Purple Pyramid, Collectables, plus a handful of other domestic and import imprints, while his years as a resident of the Chess/Checker house appear on various compilations on MCA/Chess. His European recordings reside on Alligator, Analogue Productions, Storyville, and others.

Sonny Boy Williamson II has had an influence on modern day blues and blues rock artists, as is shown by the number of his songs that are still covered, including:

• Muddy Waters – "Nine Below Zero"
• Canned Heat – "Nine Below Zero" and "Help Me"
• Junior Wells – "Help Me"
• Howlin' Wolf – "Cool Disposition"
• B. B. King – "Eyesight to the Blind"
• Mose Allison – "Eyesight to the Blind"
• John Mayall's Bluesbreakers – "Help Me", "Checkin' Up on My Baby"
• Led Zeppelin – "Bring It On Home"
• Van Morrison – "Take Your Hands Out of My Pocket", "Help Me" – both on the 1974 live album It's Too Late to Stop Now. Morrison has often sung "Help Me" in live performances throughout his long career.
• The Allman Brothers Band – "One Way Out"
• New York Dolls – "Don't Start Me Talkin'"
• Ten Years After – "Help Me"
• The Who – "Eyesight to the Blind"
• Aerosmith – "Eyesight to the Blind"
• Gary Moore – "Eyesight to the Blind"
• The Blues Brothers – "From the Bottom"
• Lester Butler – "I Cross My Heart"
• Rory Gallagher – "My Baby, She Left Me", and "Don't Start me Talkin"; on the Defender
• Nine Below Zero took their band name from his song.
• The Downchild Blues Band, also known as "Downchild", took their name from his song, "Mister Downchild".^[14]
• John Popper of Blues Traveler notes Sonny Boy Williamson as a strong influence on his harmonica playing.
• Joe Bonamassa – "Your Funeral and My Trial"
• Dr. Feelgood – "Checking Up On My Baby" on their live album, Stupidity
• The Doobie Brothers – "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" from their album "Toulouse Street"
• Joan Osborne – "Bring It On Home"

Bibliography[link]

• William E. Donoghue - ’Fessor Mojo’s "Don’t Start Me to Talkin’"^[15] (A preview^[16] of Sonny Boy Williamson II's biography) - Elliott & James Pub (January 1997) ISBN 0-9637899-5-3
• Bertrando Goio – Sonny Boy Williamson II: L'ultimo poeta del Blues – foreword by Fabio Treves – Italy 2003 (Tipografia Gariazzo).

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.sonnyboy.com/ A Sonny Boy Williamson website (by William E. Donoghue)
• http://www.furious.com/perfect/sonnyboy.html "Sonny Boy II told his sisters "Keep it to yourself" but they told me his best-kept secret" (by William E. Donoghue)
• bluesworld.com article Sonny Boy Williamson (by Gayle Dean Wardlow)
• bluesharp.ca website Sonny Boy Williamson II (from All Music Guide to the Blues - Paperback - 658 pages 2nd edition (1999) Miller Freeman Books; ISBN 0-87930-548-7
• http://www.nanton.com.br/sonnyboy/ Sonny Boy Williamson II – Brazilian Tribute page
• Sonny Boy Williamson II at Allmusic
• Sonny Boy Williamson II at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Sonny Boy Williamson II in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia performing in New Haven, CT at the Jerry Garcia WPLR Show.
Background information
Birth name	Jerome John Garcia
Born	August 1, 1942 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	August 9, 1995(1995-08-09) (aged 53) Forest Knolls, California, U.S.
Genres	Folk rock, bluegrass, country rock, jazz, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, rhythm and blues, blues-rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, vocals
Years active	1960–1995
Labels	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
Website	JerryGarcia.com
Notable instruments
Gibson SGs Guild Starfire 1957 Gibson Les Paul Gold-top Les Paul with P-90 Fender 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 who was best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead.^[1][2] Though he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.^[1][2][3][4]

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).^[1] He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.^[5]

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 and cocaine addictions,^[3][4] and was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995.^[2][4]

Childhood and early life[link]

Jerry Garcia's ancestry was Galician (Spanish), Irish, and Swedish.^[6] He was born in San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" (née Clifford) Garcia.^[7][8][9] His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern.^[7][10][11] Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon "Tiff", who was born in 1937.^[12][13] Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, partly in response to Jose being blackballed from a musician's union for moonlighting.^[14]

Garcia was influenced by music at an early age,^[15] taking piano lessons for much of his childhood.^[16] His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano.^[7] His father's extended family—who had emigrated from Spain in 1919—would often sing during reunions.^[13]

At age four,^[17][18] while vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Garcia underwent amputation of two-thirds of his right middle finger.^[19][20] 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.^[20] After his mother wrapped his hand in a towel Garcia's father drove him over thirty miles to the nearest hospital.^[19] A few weeks later, Garcia—who never looked at the finger after the accident—was surprised to discover most of it missing when the bandage he was wearing came off during a bath.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[11] Blair Jackson, who wrote the biography Garcia: An American Life, lends weight to McNally's claim, citing that the newspaper article describing Jose's death made no mention of Garcia being at the scene—even misidentifying him as his parents' daughter.^[22]

Following the accident, Garcia's mother took over their late father's bar, buying out his partner for full ownership. As a result, Ruth Garcia began working full-time, sending Jerry and his brother to live just down the road with their maternal grandparents, Tillie and William Clifford. During the five-year period in which he lived with his grandparents, Garcia enjoyed a large amount of autonomy and attended Monroe School, the local elementary school. At the school, Garcia was greatly encouraged in his artistic abilities by his third grade teacher: through her, he discovered that "being a creative person was a viable possibility in life."^[23] 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.^[24]

In 1953, Garcia's mother was remarried to a man named Wally Matusiewicz.^[25] 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.^[25] During their stay in Menlo Park, Garcia became acquainted with racism and antisemitism, things he disliked intensely.^[25] The same year, Garcia was also introduced to rock and roll and rhythm and blues by his brother, and enjoyed listening to the likes of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Hank Ballard, and, in a few years, Chuck Berry.^[26] 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.^[26]

In mid-1957, Garcia began smoking cigarettes and was introduced to marijuana.^[27][28] 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".^[15] 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.^[17] The teacher there was Wally Hedrick, an artist who came to prominence during the 1960s. During the classes, he often encouraged Garcia in his drawing and painting skills.^[29]

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, the old one having previously been torn down to make way for a freeway entrance.^[30] Two months later, on Garcia's fifteenth birthday, his mother purchased him an accordion, to his great disappointment.^[15] Garcia had long been captivated by many rhythm and blues artists, especially Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley: his one wish at this point was to have an electric guitar.^[30] After some pleading, his mother exchanged the accordion for a Danelectro with a small amplifier at a local pawnshop.^[31] Garcia's stepfather, who was somewhat proficient with instruments, helped tune his guitar to an unusual open tuning.^[27]

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.^[32] 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.^[32] This turn of events did not sit well with Garcia. To get to Analy High School, the nearest school, he had to travel by bus thirty miles to Sebastopol, a move which only made him more unhappy.^[33] 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.^[34]

Recording career[link]

Relocation and band beginnings[link]

Garcia stole his mother's car in 1960, and as punishment, joined the United States Army. He received basic training at Fort Ord.^[15] After training, he was transferred to Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco.^[35] Garcia spent most of his time in the army at his leisure, missing roll call and accruing many counts of AWOL.^[36] As a result, Garcia was given a general discharge on December 14, 1960.^[37]

In January 1961, Garcia drove down to East Palo Alto to see Laird Grant, an old friend from middle school.^[38] He had purchased a 1950 Cadillac sedan from a cook in the army, which barely made it to Grant's residence before it broke down.^[38] Garcia proceeded to spend the next few weeks sleeping where friends would allow, eventually using his car as a home. Through Grant, Garcia met Dave McQueen in February, who, after hearing Garcia perform some blues, introduced him to local people and to the Chateau, a rooming house located near Stanford University which was then a popular hangout.^[39]

On February 20, 1961, Garcia entered a car with Paul Speegle, a 16-year-old artist and acquaintance of Garcia; Jack Royerton, a poet from Indiana and childhood friend of Garcia; Lee Adams, the house manager of the Chateau and driver of the car; and Alan Trist, a companion of theirs.^[39] After speeding past the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital, the car encountered a curve and, traveling around ninety miles per hour, collided with the guard rail, sending the car rolling turbulently.^[40][41] 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.^[40] Lee Adams, the driver, and Alan Trist, who was seated in the back, were thrown from the car as well, suffering from abdominal injuries and a spine fracture, respectively.^[40] Royerton suffered a mild concussion and shattered his ulna. Garcia escaped with a broken collarbone, while Speegle, still in the car, was fatally injured.^[41]

The accident served as an awakening for Garcia, who later commented: "That's where my life began. Before then I was always living at less than capacity. I was idling. That was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was like a second chance. Then I got serious".^[42] 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.^[43]

Garcia met Robert Hunter, who would become a long-time lyrical collaborator with the Grateful Dead, in April 1961.^[1][7] Garcia and Hunter began to participate in the local art and music scenes, sometimes playing at Kepler's Books.^[7] Garcia performed his first concert with Hunter, each earning five dollars. Garcia and Hunter also played in a band called the Wildwood Boys with David Nelson, a future contributor to some Grateful Dead albums.^[17]

In 1962 Garcia met Phil Lesh, the eventual bassist of the Grateful Dead, during a party in Menlo Park's bohemian Perry Lane neighborhood (where Ken Kesey lived).^[44] Lesh would later write in his autobiography that Garcia resembled the composer Claude Debussy, with his "dark, curly hair, goatee, Impressionist eyes".^[17] While attending another party in Palo Alto, Lesh approached Garcia to suggest that he record some songs on Lesh's tape recorder (Phil was musically trained, though he did not start playing bass guitar until the formation of the Grateful Dead in 1965) with the intention of getting them played on the radio station KPFA.^[17] Using an old Wollensak tape recorder, they recorded "Matty Groves" and "The Long Black Veil", among several other tunes. Their efforts were not in vain, leading to a spot on the show, a ninety-minute special on Garcia. It was broadcast as: "'The Long Black Veil' and Other Ballads: An Evening with Jerry Garcia".^[17]

Garcia soon began playing and teaching acoustic guitar and banjo.^[17] One of Garcia's students was Bob Matthews, who later engineered many of the Grateful Dead's albums.^[45] Matthews went to high school and was friends with Bob Weir, and on New Year's Eve 1963, he introduced Weir and Garcia.^[45]

Between 1962 and 1964, Garcia sang and performed mainly bluegrass, old-time and folk music. One of the bands Garcia performed with was the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, a bluegrass act. The group consisted of Jerry Garcia on guitar, banjo, vocals, and harmonica, Marshall Leicester on banjo, guitar, and vocals, and Dick Arnold on fiddle and vocals.^[46] Soon after this, Garcia joined a local bluegrass and folk band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, whose membership included Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, a rhythm and blues fan. Around this time, the psychedelic LSD was gaining popularity. 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".^[15]

In 1965, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions evolved into the Warlocks, with the addition of Phil Lesh on bass guitar and Bill Kreutzmann on percussion. However, the band discovered that another group was performing under their newly selected name, prompting another name change. Garcia came up with the name by opening a Funk and Wagnall's dictionary to an entry for "Grateful Dead".^[15][16][17] The definition for "Grateful Dead" was "a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial".^[47] The band's first reaction was disapproval.^[15][16] Garcia later explained the group's reaction: "I didn't like it really, I just found it to be really powerful. [Bob] Weir didn't like it, [Bill] Kreutzmann didn't like it and nobody really wanted to hear about it. [...]"^[15] Despite their dislike of the name, it quickly spread by word of mouth, and soon became their official title.

Career with the Grateful Dead[link]

The corner of Haight and Ashbury, center of the San Francisco neighborhood in which the Grateful Dead shared a house at 710 Ashbury from fall 1966 to spring 1968.

Garcia served as lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for their entire career. Garcia composed such songs as "Dark Star",^[48] "Franklin's Tower",^[48] and "Scarlet Begonias",^[48] among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs.

Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations",^[2] which would frequently feature interplay between himself and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice.^[3] Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir on when to solo, remarking that "there are some [...] kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil [Lesh's] innovative bass playing. Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. [...] Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob."^[49]

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. [...]"^[50]

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.^[3]

Garcia's mature guitar-playing melded elements from the various kinds of music that had enthralled him. Echoes of bluegrass playing (such as Arthur Smith and Doc Watson) could be heard. But the "roots music" behind bluegrass had its influence, too, and melodic riffs from Celtic fiddle jigs can be distinguished.^{[citation needed]} There was also early rock (like Lonnie Mack, James Burton and Chuck Berry), contemporary blues (such as Freddie King and Lowell Fulson), country and western (such as Roy Nichols and Don Rich), and jazz (like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt) to be heard in Jerry's style. Don Rich was the sparkling country guitar player in Buck Owens's "the Buckaroos" band of the 1960s, but besides Rich's style, both Garcia's pedal steel guitar playing (on Grateful Dead records and others) and his standard electric guitar work, were influenced by another of Owens's Buckaroos of that time, pedal-steel player Tom Brumley. And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences.

Garcia later described his playing style as having "descended from barroom rock and roll, country guitar. Just 'cause that's where all my stuff comes from. It's like that blues instrumental stuff that was happening in the late Fifties and early Sixties, like Freddie King." Garcia's style varied somewhat according to the song or instrumental to which he was contributing. His playing had a number of so-called "signatures" and, in his work through the years with the Grateful Dead, one of these was lead lines making much use of rhythmic triplets (examples include the songs "Good Morning Little School Girl", "New Speedway Boogie", "Brokedown Palace", "Deal", "Loser", "Truckin'", "That's It for the Other One", "U.S. Blues", "Sugaree", and "Don't Ease Me In").

Side projects[link]

In addition to the Grateful Dead, Garcia had numerous side projects, the most notable being the Jerry Garcia Band. He was also involved with various acoustic projects such as Old and in the Way and other bluegrass bands, including collaborations with noted bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman. The documentary film Grateful Dawg chronicles the deep, long-term friendship between Garcia and Grisman.^[51]

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.^[52]

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[link]

Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, in 1963.^[17] She was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Bookstore where Garcia, Hunter, and Nelson performed. They married on April 23, 1963, and on December 8 of that year the only child they had together, their daughter Heather, was born.^[53]

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.^[17] Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were apprehended on marijuana charges which were later dropped, although Garcia himself was not arrested.^[54] The following year, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon.^[55]

Most of the Grateful Dead were arrested again in January 1970, after they flew to New Orleans from Hawaii.^[17] After returning to their hotel from a performance, the band checked into their rooms, only to be quickly raided by police. Around fifteen people were arrested on the spot, including many of the road crew, management, and nearly all of the Grateful Dead (except Garcia, who arrived later, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was not taking drugs at the time).^[17]

During August 1970, Garcia's mother Ruth was involved in a car accident near Twin Peaks in San Francisco.^[17] Garcia, who was recording the album American Beauty at the time, often left the sessions to visit his mother with his brother Clifford. She died on September 28, 1970. That same year, Garcia participated in the soundtrack for the film Zabriskie Point.

Carolyn Adams, also known as 'Mountain Girl', gave birth to Garcia's second and third daughters, Annabelle Walker Garcia (February 2, 1970) and Theresa Adams "Trixie" Garcia (September 21, 1974). Adams and Garcia married in 1981.^[53]

In 1975, around the time Blues for Allah was being created, Garcia met Deborah Koons, the woman who would much later become his third wife and widow.^[17] He began seeing her while he was still involved with Adams, with whom Koons had a less-than-perfect relationship. Garcia and Adams eventually went different ways.

While touring in late 1973 the band began to use cocaine in order to reduce the exhausting effects^{[citation needed]} of constantly being on the road. During the band's hiatus in 1975, Garcia was introduced to a smoke-able form of heroin. Influenced by the stresses of creating and releasing The Grateful Dead Movie in 1977, Garcia's cocaine and heroin use increased. This, combined with the drug use of several other members of the Grateful Dead, produced turbulent times for the band: the band's chemistry began "cracking and crumbling",^[17] resulting in poor group cohesion. As a result, Keith and Donna Godchaux were asked to leave the band in February 1979. With the addition of keyboardist Brent Mydland, the band was reaching new heights. Though things seemed to be getting better for the band, Garcia's health was descending. By 1983, Garcia had lost his "liveliness" on stage. The so-called "endless tour," the result of years of financial risks, drug use and mistakes, also became extremely taxing.

Garcia's use of heroin increased heavily over the years, eventually culminating in the rest of the Grateful Dead holding an intervention in January 1985.^[17] Given the choice between the band or the drugs, Garcia readily agreed to check into a rehabilitation center in Oakland, California. A few days later in January, before the start of his program in Oakland, Garcia was arrested for drug possession in Golden Gate Park; Garcia subsequently attended a drug diversion program. Throughout 1985, Garcia fought to kick his habit while on tour, and by 1986, was completely clean.

Precipitated by an unhealthy weight, bad eating habits, and recent drug use, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma in July 1986, waking up five days later.^[3][4] Garcia later spoke about this period of unconsciousness as surreal: "Well, I had some very weird experiences. My main experience was one of furious activity and tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic, space-ship vehicle with insectoid presences. After I came out of my coma, I had this image of myself as these little hunks of protoplasm that were stuck together kind of like stamps with perforations between them that you could snap off."^[16] Garcia's coma had a profound effect on him: it forced him to have to relearn how to play the guitar, as well as other, more basic skills. Within a handful of months, Garcia quickly recovered, playing with the Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead again later that year.^[17] Garcia frequently saw a woman named Manasha Matheson during this period. Together they produced Garcia's fourth and final child, a girl named Keelin Noel Garcia, who was born December 20, 1987.^[53] (Jerry, Keelin and Manasha toured and shared a home together as a family until 1993.) After Garcia's recovery, the band released a comeback album "In the Dark" in 1987, which became their best ever selling studio album. Inspired by Garcia's improved health and a successful album, the band's energy and chemistry peaked in the late 1980s and 1990.

During the summer of 1990, keyboardist Brent Mydland died of a drug overdose. Mydland's death greatly affected Garcia, leading him to believe that the on and off stage chemistry would never be the same. Before beginning the fall tour, the band acquired keyboardists Vince Welnick and Bruce Hornsby. The power of Hornsby's keys musically drove Garcia to new heights on stage. As the band continued through 1991, Garcia became concerned with the band's future. He was burnt out from four straight years of high powered touring. Jerry thought a break was necessary, mainly so that the band could come back with fresh material. The idea was put off by the pressures of management, and the touring continued. Jerry's decrease in both his stamina and his interest to continue touring, may have caused him to use again. Though his relapse was relatively brief, lasting through the summer, the band was quick to react. Soon after the last show of the tour in Denver, Garcia was confronted by the Grateful Dead with another intervention. After a somewhat disastrous meeting, Garcia invited Phil Lesh over to his home in San Rafael, California, where he explained that after the meeting he would start attending a methadone clinic. Garcia said that he simply wanted to clean up in his own way, and get back to making music.^[17]

After returning from the Grateful Dead's 1992 summer tour, Garcia became extremely sick, evidently a throwback to his diabetic coma in 1986.^[17] Refusing to go to the hospital, he instead enlisted the aid of an acupuncturist named Yen Wei Choong and a licensed doctor to treat him personally at home. Garcia recovered over the following days, despite the Grateful Dead having to cancel their fall tour to allow him time to recuperate. Following this episode, Garcia quit smoking, became a vegetarian, and began losing weight.

Garcia and girlfriend Barbara Meier, who had met in December of the previous year, separated at the beginning of the Dead's 1993 spring tour. In 1994, Garcia renewed acquaintances with Deborah Koons, with whom he had been involved sometime around 1975. They married on February 14, 1994, in Sausalito, California. The wedding was attended by family and friends.^[17] Garcia had divorced Adams in January of that year.

By the beginning of 1995, Garcia's physical and mental condition began a decline. His playing ability suffered to the point where he would turn down the volume of his guitar, and he often had to be reminded of what song he was performing.^[17] Due to his frail condition, he began to use again just to dull the pain.

In light of his second drug relapse and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, however, lasting only two weeks. Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California.^[4][56]

Death[link]

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 am, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic.^[4][56] The cause of death was a heart attack.^[57] Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction,^[4] weight problems, sleep apnea,^[4]a long standing cigarette habit and diabetes all of which contributed to his physical decline. Phil Lesh remarked in his autobiography that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb; I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother."^[17] On the morning of August 10, Garcia was rested at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. Garcia's funeral was held on August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere.^[17][56] It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead members and their friends, including former basketball player Bill Walton and musician Bob Dylan, and his widow Deborah Koons,^[56] who barred Garcia's other two wives from the ceremony.^[17]

On August 13, a municipally sanctioned public memorial took place in the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and was attended by about 25,000 people.^[17] The crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and even a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace"^[56] in remembrance.

On April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Garcia's cremated ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India,^[17][58] a site sacred to 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.^[59]

Musical equipment[link]

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 25 guitars.^[60]

In 1965, when Garcia was playing with the Warlocks, he used a Guild Starfire,^[60] which he also used on the début album of the Grateful Dead. Beginning in late 1967 and ending in 1968, Garcia played various colored Gibson Les Paul guitars. In 1969, he picked up the Gibson SG and used it for most of that year and 1970, except for a small period in between where he used a Sunburst Fender Stratocaster.

During Garcia's "pedal steel flirtation period" (as Bob Weir referred to it in Anthem to Beauty), from approximately 1969 to 1974, he played a ZB Custom D-10 steel guitar, especially in his earlier public performances. Although this was a double neck guitar, Garcia often would choose not to attach the last 5 pedal rods for the rear or Western Swing neck. Additionally, he was playing an Emmons D-10 at the time of the Grateful Dead's and New Riders of the Purple Sage's final appearances at the Filmore East in late April 1971. Also, he had been given a Fender Pedal Steel (probably a 1000 model) prior to owning the ZB Custom, but did not play it much.^{[citation needed]}

In 1969, Garcia played pedal steel on two notable outside recordings: the track "The Farm" on the Jefferson Airplane album Volunteers; and the hit single "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young from their album Déjà Vu, released in 1970. Garcia played on the latter album in exchange for harmony lessons for the Grateful Dead, who were at the time recording their acoustic albums Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.^[61]

In 1972, Garcia used a Fender Stratocaster nicknamed Alligator for its alligator sticker on the pickguard.^[60] The guitar was given to him by Graham Nash. This was due in part to damage to his first custom-made guitar, made by Alembic. This guitar, nicknamed Wolf for a memorable sticker Garcia added below the tailpiece, cost $1500 – extremely high for the time.^[62]

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."^[62]

During the Grateful Dead's European Tour, Wolf was dropped on several occasions, one of which caused a minor crack in the headstock. Garcia returned it to Irwin to fix; during its two-year absence Garcia played predominantly Travis Bean guitars. On September 28, 1977, Irwin delivered the renovated Wolf back to Garcia.^[62] The wolf sticker which gave the guitar its name had now been inlaid into the instrument; it also featured an effects loop between the pick-ups and controls (so inline effects would "see" the same signal at all times) which was bypassable. Irwin also put a new face on the headstock with only his logo (he later claimed to have built the guitar himself, though pictures through time clearly show the progression of logos, from Alembic, to Alembic & Irwin, to only Irwin). In the "Grateful Dead Movie" Jerry is playing Wolf and this film provides excellent views of Wolf.

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").^[63] The first concert that Jerry played Tiger was August 4, 1979 at the Oakland Auditorium Arena.^[63] It was named Tiger from the inlay on the preamp cover.^[64] 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.^[64] The neck was made of western maple with an ebony fingerboard. The pickups consisted of a single coil DiMarzio SDS-1 and two humbucker DiMarzio Super IIs which were easily removable due to Garcia's preference for replacing his pickups every year or two.^[64] The electronics were composed of an effects bypass loop, which allowed Garcia to control the sound of his effects through the tone and volume controls on the guitar, and a preamplifier/buffer which rested behind a plate in the back of the guitar. In terms of weight, everything included made Tiger tip the scales at 13½ pounds. This was Garcia's principal guitar for the next eleven years, and most played.

In 1990, Irwin completed Rosebud, Garcia's fourth custom guitar.^[65] 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. Atop the guitar was a Roland GK-2 pickup which fed the controller set inside the guitar. The GK2 was used in junction with the Roland GR-50 rack mount synthesizer. The GR-50 synthesizer in turn drove a Korg M1R synthesizer producing the MIDI effects heard during live performances of this period as heard on the Grateful Dead recording 'Without a Net'.^[65][66] Sections of the guitar were hollowed out to bring the weight down to 11½ pounds. The inlay, a dancing skeleton holding a rose, covers a plate just below the bridge. The final cost of the instrument was $11,000.^[65]

In 1993, carpenter-turned-luthier Stephen Cripe tried his hand at making an instrument for Garcia.^[60] After researching Tiger through pictures and films, Cripe set out on what would soon become known as Lightning Bolt, again named for its inlay.^[67] 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.^[67] Built purely from guesswork, Lightning Bolt was a hit with Garcia, who began using the guitar exclusively. Soon after, Garcia requested that Cripe build a backup of the guitar. Cripe, who had not measured or photographed the original, was told simply to "wing it."^[67]

Cripe later delivered the backup, which was known by the name Top Hat. Garcia bought it from him for the price of $6,500, making it the first guitar that Cripe had ever sold.^[67] However, infatuated with Lightning Bolt, Garcia rarely used the backup.

After Garcia's death, the ownership of his Wolf and Tiger came into question. According to Garcia's will,^[53] his guitars were to go to Doug Irwin, who had constructed them.^[68][69] The remaining Grateful Dead members disagreed—they considered his guitars to be property of the band, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties.^[68][69] In 2001, Irwin won the case. Irwin, being a victim of a hit-and-run accident in 1998,^[69] was left nearly penniless. He placed Garcia's guitars up for auction in hopes of being able to start another guitar workshop.^[68]

On May 8, 2002, Wolf and Tiger, among other memorabilia, were placed for auction at Studio 54 in New York City.^[68] Tiger was purchased for $957,500, while Wolf was bought for $789,500. Together, the instruments were bought for 1.74 million dollars, setting a new world record.^[69] Wolf is in a private collection kept in a secure climate controlled room in a private residence at Utica, N.Y., and Tiger is in the private collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.^[70]

Legacy[link]

Garcia appeared in the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind as an extra during the scenes in India in a crowd shot.^[71] 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".^{[72][73][74][75]}

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 13th in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.^[5]

In 2005, Rapper Proof from the group D12 released an album named after Garcia, Searching for Jerry Garcia. The album was dedicated to the Grateful Dead and released ten years to the day of Garcia's death.

Ween recorded the song, "So Long Jerry" during the sessions for their 12 Golden Country Greats album, but it was left off the album, eventually appearing on the "Piss Up a Rope" single.

According to fellow Bay Area guitar player Henry Kaiser, Garcia is "the most recorded guitarist in history. With more than 2,200 Grateful Dead concerts, and 1,000 Jerry Garcia Band concerts captured on tape – as well as numerous studio sessions – there are about 15,000 hours of his guitar work preserved for the ages."^[76]

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. The 3G's festival is still going strong hosting hundreds of fans yearly to see such headliners as Elf Lettuce, The Workshy, and Afternoon Moon at a swinger's campground in Wisconsin.

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."^[77] 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.^[78] 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.