Phil was a friend back in the day. A couple buddies and I promoted the Dead in Portland in the late 60's. We would rent halls like the Shriners owned and our friends would come up from SF and play. I was closer to Phil than the others, they would come by the house after the shows and party into the night. I read the NYT obit an hour ago and sent it to my surviving partner. Thanks for this one Tom, I felt this news in the gut. I hope he had an easy passing, he made a lot of people happy with the music he played, he was a true gentleman, he's probably already jamming with Gerry. RIP Phil
I came late to the scene, my stepson was a Deadhead, and my husband and I were on the West coast when we agreed to me him and his friend at the Dead concert in Eugene, Oregon 1994. We had so much fun the first day that we got tickets for the second day! I don’t think my daughter will ever forgive me, when she heard that, because of course Jerry died the next year.
I have enjoyed their music ever since. RIP Phil. Since there is dog and cat heaven, there surely must be musician heaven!
As a friend of mine likes to say, we all have an expiration date, we just don't know when it is. Or, as I like to put it, you're here, until you're not.
I was probably at the same concert. Definitely full of happy smiling people dancing their hearts out. You must have been stationed at Fort Ord. I heard that’s a National Monument now. I grew up in the SF Bay area and spent a lot of time in Monterey and Santa Cruz. I’m glad you were able to get up to the Fillmore and see the Dead while you were stationed there.
I was at the Presidio of Monterey, enrolled in a 47-week course to learn the Hanoi dialect of the Vietnamese language. It occurred to me that we may have been at the same show at the Fillmore. I have a clear memory of a dude with long hair and fringe vest, dancing and jumping, with a slow strobe, so that I would see a live "freeze frame" every time the strobe flashed. I can still see that image in my memory, although I doubt that it remains clear enough to enable me to identify a picture of that person. If I live long enough to remember only one thing, I'd bet it would be that freeze frame from my first Dead show.
My first Dead show was at the Fillmore, late summer '68. I was in the Army, stationed in Monterey, CA. My godmother and family were living in SF. I would take the bus from Monterey for the weekend. There was no way to hide my being in the Army, so it was with some trepidation that I ventured into the Fillmore. I'd heard a lot about the Grateful Dead, and wanted to see and hear for myself. At that point I had never ingested any banned substances, so I was clean cut and sober. There was not even a hint of hostility toward me. If anyone paid any attention to me, it was all smiles and love. I was amazed. That show had a profound effect on me. I went to quite a few shows over the years, mostly at Alpine Valley in SE Wisconsin, where I grew up. A Dead show was a plausible version of "heaven".
Thank you for this moving remembrance of a great musician. The Grateful Dead transformed so many individuals lives for the better. Enlightening mythic folk 🐈⬛
The best times of my youth involved the Grateful Dead and psilocybin. Not coincidentally, as an older man, I find the deepest solace from the degradations of Donald Trump in John Coltrane. The Dead and Coltrane are all about unity and healing. Rest easy, dear Phil.
Saw the Dead any number of times in the late 60’s Bay Area. “American Beauty” is still one of my favorite albums, and “Box of Rain” one of its best songs. Thanks, Phil.
I cried today, when I learned that Phil no longer walks among us. I have not cried for a long time. Maybe I'm just worn out from paying attention to our political situation.
I love the Grateful Dead. My life is infinitely better for having shared time and space with them.
A few years ago my mate said my Wall of Sound system was too big for our living room. We replaced it with a popular sound bar, which does a nice job with small speakers, but it does not reproduce Phil's melodic bass very well. Last May we bought a wireless sub-woofer after visiting family in Arkansas. Gramps (me) got their sub-woofer working, and we were all impressed with what a big difference it makes. Unfortunately for us, the manufacturer messed up their software, so we have been unable to get our subwoofer to work. I tried it again just yesterday, and it seems closer to working than the last time I tried. A proper sound system should reproduce the low range of the audio spectrum.
Whenever I can hear Phil's part it often makes me wish I could learn how to play like him.
Phil was a friend back in the day. A couple buddies and I promoted the Dead in Portland in the late 60's. We would rent halls like the Shriners owned and our friends would come up from SF and play. I was closer to Phil than the others, they would come by the house after the shows and party into the night. I read the NYT obit an hour ago and sent it to my surviving partner. Thanks for this one Tom, I felt this news in the gut. I hope he had an easy passing, he made a lot of people happy with the music he played, he was a true gentleman, he's probably already jamming with Gerry. RIP Phil
I came late to the scene, my stepson was a Deadhead, and my husband and I were on the West coast when we agreed to me him and his friend at the Dead concert in Eugene, Oregon 1994. We had so much fun the first day that we got tickets for the second day! I don’t think my daughter will ever forgive me, when she heard that, because of course Jerry died the next year.
I have enjoyed their music ever since. RIP Phil. Since there is dog and cat heaven, there surely must be musician heaven!
Excellent accounting, Tom!
One is tempted to recall Satchel Paige's motto "Don't look back - something may be gaining on you." I'll be 84 in late December.....
As a friend of mine likes to say, we all have an expiration date, we just don't know when it is. Or, as I like to put it, you're here, until you're not.
I always like the comment from somebody that “it’s what you do with the dash that counts.” As in… the dash that connects the two dates, b. and d.
Deadhead! Through and through.
😢 So much the soundtrack of my college and early adulthood years. Have been listening to the Grateful Dead since I first read about his death. Shoot!
But if there is one, we should have a fine time in heaven.
I loved the Dead. Saw them many times around SF back in the late 60’s, Fillmore, Avalon and Winterland. Those were the days. Phil will be missed.
I was probably at the same concert. Definitely full of happy smiling people dancing their hearts out. You must have been stationed at Fort Ord. I heard that’s a National Monument now. I grew up in the SF Bay area and spent a lot of time in Monterey and Santa Cruz. I’m glad you were able to get up to the Fillmore and see the Dead while you were stationed there.
I was at the Presidio of Monterey, enrolled in a 47-week course to learn the Hanoi dialect of the Vietnamese language. It occurred to me that we may have been at the same show at the Fillmore. I have a clear memory of a dude with long hair and fringe vest, dancing and jumping, with a slow strobe, so that I would see a live "freeze frame" every time the strobe flashed. I can still see that image in my memory, although I doubt that it remains clear enough to enable me to identify a picture of that person. If I live long enough to remember only one thing, I'd bet it would be that freeze frame from my first Dead show.
My first Dead show was at the Fillmore, late summer '68. I was in the Army, stationed in Monterey, CA. My godmother and family were living in SF. I would take the bus from Monterey for the weekend. There was no way to hide my being in the Army, so it was with some trepidation that I ventured into the Fillmore. I'd heard a lot about the Grateful Dead, and wanted to see and hear for myself. At that point I had never ingested any banned substances, so I was clean cut and sober. There was not even a hint of hostility toward me. If anyone paid any attention to me, it was all smiles and love. I was amazed. That show had a profound effect on me. I went to quite a few shows over the years, mostly at Alpine Valley in SE Wisconsin, where I grew up. A Dead show was a plausible version of "heaven".
Thank you for this moving remembrance of a great musician. The Grateful Dead transformed so many individuals lives for the better. Enlightening mythic folk 🐈⬛
The best times of my youth involved the Grateful Dead and psilocybin. Not coincidentally, as an older man, I find the deepest solace from the degradations of Donald Trump in John Coltrane. The Dead and Coltrane are all about unity and healing. Rest easy, dear Phil.
Saw the Dead any number of times in the late 60’s Bay Area. “American Beauty” is still one of my favorite albums, and “Box of Rain” one of its best songs. Thanks, Phil.
I cried today, when I learned that Phil no longer walks among us. I have not cried for a long time. Maybe I'm just worn out from paying attention to our political situation.
I love the Grateful Dead. My life is infinitely better for having shared time and space with them.
A few years ago my mate said my Wall of Sound system was too big for our living room. We replaced it with a popular sound bar, which does a nice job with small speakers, but it does not reproduce Phil's melodic bass very well. Last May we bought a wireless sub-woofer after visiting family in Arkansas. Gramps (me) got their sub-woofer working, and we were all impressed with what a big difference it makes. Unfortunately for us, the manufacturer messed up their software, so we have been unable to get our subwoofer to work. I tried it again just yesterday, and it seems closer to working than the last time I tried. A proper sound system should reproduce the low range of the audio spectrum.
Whenever I can hear Phil's part it often makes me wish I could learn how to play like him.
Thanks, Tom. Glad to know you're a Deadhead. Of course you are.
Thank you for this. I truly appreciated a bit of musical memory on Friday evening.
Thanks, I didn’t know any of that but it sounds familiar.
Sniff.