Garcia

Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) is an American icon. The guitarist and de facto leader of the Grateful Dead was a gregarious talker, keenly engaged with the new world exploding around him. In 1972, Garcia and his wife, Mountain Girl, were visited by Charles Reich, a Yale law professor, and Jane Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone. Garcia was just thirty-one years old but already viewed-to his lasting dismay-as the embodiment of a new sensibility sweeping the land, a bohemian-anarchist aesthetic that had its roots in Ken Kesey's pranksters, the novelists and poets of the Beat Generation, and the libertine tradition of the American Transcendentalists. In this interview, Garcia reveals how he is a combination of these and other influences, a high school drop-out and antodidact blessed with a gift for eloquent turns of phrase and a refreshing directness. He speaks of the saga of the Grateful Dead and of his hoodlum youth growing up in San Francisco's Mission District. He delves into discourses on the music that shaped his own playing and writing, and freely discusses his use of drugs and explains why he felt it was important to stay high. Like the Grateful Dead's best music, Garcia: A Signpost to New Space is familiar, friendly, and inviting.Garcia, Jerry is the author of 'Garcia ' with ISBN 9780306812538 and ISBN 0306812533.