Who Am I? Celebrating a mystery person born this month
Print a “Who Am I?” sign. Add a clue in the text box, print, and post on your bulletin board. Post a different clue every day or so and see who can guess the identity of the mystery person of the
month. Then plan a “Who am I?” discussion and reminiscence activity.
Do you know who I am? Here are some clues:
1. I was born August 1, 1942.
2. My parents ran a bar in San Francisco.
3. I was introduced to bluegrass music while living with my grandmother for five years.
4. I enlisted in the Army but was discharged after only nine months for poor conduct.
5. When I was four years old, my father slipped while fly-fishing and was swept away to his death.
6. While our family was on a camping trip, my older brother accidentally cut off my middle fingerwith an axe.
7. The first stringed instrument I ever played was the banjo.
8. I am known for my improvisational playing style and long, eclectic guitar solos.
9. The first band I ever joined was called the Chords.
10. I selected the name of my band from a dictionary entry.
11. In 1964, I discovered the drug LSD, which “changed my life.”
12. I have a long and troubled history of drug abuse and addiction.
13. I was closely involved in the hippie counterculture movement.
14. I had several intertwining relationships with many women and fathered several children.
15. In addition to my main band, I also worked on numerous side projects and collaborationswith other musicians.
16. Over 15,000 hours of my work has been recorded, which makes me the most-recordedguitarist in music history.
17. From the mid-1980s, I had numerous health problems due to my years of hard living.
18. Ben and Jerry’s named an ice cream flavor after me.
19. My band toured almost nonstop for 30 years.
20. My band’s devoted fans are called “Deadheads.”
Do you know who I am? That’s right! I am guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia!
Print a copy of the pictures to pass around as you share and discuss the information in the article with your group.
Introduction
Jerry Garcia was an iconic musician famous for his improvisational and experimental style and his 30-year career with the Grateful Dead. Read on to discover fun and interesting facts about thisrock-and-roll legend.
Early Life
Jerry Garcia was born Jerome John Garcia on August 1, 1942, in San Francisco, California, to Jose and Ruth Garcia, who operated a bar in San Francisco. Prior to his bar-owning career, Jose had been a professional musician, which exposed Garcia to music at an early age.
Garcia was also exposed to several tragedies during his childhood, the first of which took place when he was only four years old. While camping with his family, Garcia and his older brother, Clifford, were chopping wood when Clifford accidentally cut off one of Jerry’s fingers. Later in that same year, while on another vacation, Garcia’s father drowned after he slipped into a river while fly-fishing and was swept away by the current. Garcia himself claimed to have witnessed his father’s death, but it is not clear if he was actually present or if he formed the memory after hearing accounts of his father’s death.
After his father’s death, Garcia’s mother took over all operations at the bar and sent Garcia and his brother to live with their grandparents for five years. It was during this time that Garcia became first acquainted with both art and bluegrass music, taking up his first stringed instrument, the banjo. After the Garcia boys returned to live with their mother and her new husband, Garcia was introduced to rock and roll and rhythm and blues music by his brother.
Garcia began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute and had his first experience with drugs, smoking marijuana with a friend. He showed tremendous interest in R&B music and received his first electric guitar at age 15, which his stepfather helped him learn to play. In high school, Garcia joined his first band—a group called the Chords—but had continuous discipline problems both in school and at home. Eventually he dropped out of school and stole his mother’s car. As punishment for this, he was forced to enlist in the U.S. Army.
Discussion Starters
• Did you ever have to deal with early childhood tragedies like Garcia? How did they affect you?
• Although best-known for his work in music, Garcia also studied art as a youth and returned toart much later in life. Did you have any childhood hobbies or passions you abandoned? Didyou ever return to them?
• Garcia was sent to the Army after stealing his mother’s car. Do you think the Army is a goodsolution for teenage misbehavior? Would you ever send your child to the Army?
The Grateful Dead
The Army did not prove to be a solid solution for Garcia’s behavior problems, and he was discharged for poor conduct after serving only nine months. He began to work as a guitarist and music teacher in San Francisco before a car accident in 1961 shocked him into focusing on his life and his desire for a music career. He became a fixture in San Francisco’s beatnik coffeehouse scene, meeting and collaborating with Robert Hunter, Phil Lesh, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. He met and married his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal, in 1964.
In that same year, he also experienced the drug LSD for the first time, claiming that using it had been a life-changing experience that inspired him to break with the normal conventions of folk music and move heavily toward improvisation. Garcia, Lesh, and McKernan formed a band called the Warlocks along with Bob Weir and drummer Bill Kruetzmann in 1965, but upon discovering that another band was performing under the same name, Garcia selected a new name for the group: The Grateful Dead.
The Grateful Dead was closely involved with the hippie counterculture movement and toured endlessly for roughly 30 years. While playing with the Dead, Garcia became known for his eclectic and highly improvisational style of guitar, making each performance a unique experience for his listeners. He also maintained numerous side projects and smaller bands, collaborating with numerous artists, such as Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He also experimented with a variety of genres and styles including, folk, psychedelic rock, rhythm and blues, and bluegrass.
A true hippie, Garcia fully threw himself into the “free love” movement, engaging in numerous, intertwining affairs and marriages with a number of women and fathering several children. He also partook in heavy drug usage, for which he was arrested several times. Eventually, the other members of the Dead staged an intervention, forcing Garcia to either go to rehab or give up the band. In 1985, he entered rehab and was able to wean himself from drug usage to the point that he was completely clean a year later.
He was unable to maintain a clean lifestyle, though, and he relapsed in July 1986, eventually falling into a five-day diabetic coma. The coma profoundly affected Garcia, forcing him to relearn the guitar and several other basic skills. Upon recovery, he returned to the Dead, and the group released their most successful album, In the Dark (1987). Re-energized, they embarked on their first stadium tour.
Discussion Starters
• What do you think of the hippie counterculture movement?
• Garcia’s car crash in 1961 was a turning point in his life. Have youever had a sudden event that changed your life? What happened?
• Garcia and the Grateful Dead are well-known for their chronic druguse. Have you ever known anyone who was seriously affected bydrugs? Were they able to recover?
The End of the “Endless Tour”
Garcia continued to enjoy tremendous success with the Grateful Dead, touring constantly and attracting countless new fans, who are often called “Deadheads.” Despite his continued success, Garcia continued to struggle with his health and addiction, maintaining periods of excellent health before relapsing into serious drug usage again.
His endless performing and frequent visits to rehab centers took their toll on Garcia, and in 1995 he checked himself into rehab for a final time. He suffered a heart attack on August 9 and tragically passed away. His funeral was held three days later and was attended by the Grateful Dead band, their friends, and numerous other musicians. Garcia was cremated, with half of his ashes being spread in the San Francisco Bay and the remaining half being spread in the Ganges River in India.
With his near endless touring, numerous side projects, and willingness to let his fans record him live, Garcia is the most-recorded guitarist in music history, with roughly 15,000 hours of recorded footage in existence. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and is honored by numerous tribute concerts and musical festivals every year. He is so well-loved and revered that the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Company even named a flavor of ice cream in his honor in 1987. The name? “Cherry Garcia”!
A prolific guitarist and brilliant performer, Jerry Garcia is a rock-and-roll legend who will forever hold a significant place in music history.
Discussion Starters
• The Grateful Dead’s devoted fans are called “Deadheads” and have formed a communitybased on their love of the band. Have you ever been a part of a fan community? Have youever made friends based on a mutual interest in a band?
• Garcia was well-known for his relaxed attitudes regarding fans recording his performances.What are your opinions about fans recording live performances? Have you ever seen alive performance?
• Although primarily known for his work with the Grateful Dead, Garcia maintained numerousside projects and smaller bands. Have you ever worked on something in addition to yourmain job or career?
Here are a few more interesting tidbits about Jerry Garcia:
• He was an artist.
As a teenager, Garcia studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute but abandoned his art infavor of music. However, later in life he returned to art, producing a number of paintings,illustrations, and lithographs, which he showed in a number of galleries.
• He named his guitars.
Garcia was known to have used about 25 guitars throughout his career, but he had a numberof guitars that were special enough to name. The six guitars he named were Alligator, Wolf,Rosebud, Tiger, Lightning Bolt, and Top Hat. Several of these guitars are now owned by theRock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.
• He was in involved in over 20 bands.
From the beginning of his career, Garcia moved easily from group to group, ranging fromduos and trios to full-blown bands. Some of his more notable bands include New Riders ofthe Purple Sage, Old and in the Way, and the aptly named Jerry Garcia Band.
• He designed ties.
Garcia took several of his works of art and transferred the designs to a line of neckties, whichare still being sold today.
• Garcia found the name “Grateful Dead” in the dictionary.
After discovering that another group was performing under the name the Warlocks, Garciaturned to a Funk and Wagnalls dictionary for a new name. He was struck by the definition forthe term grateful dead, which he found powerful. Initially his bandmates disliked the name,but it quickly spread and became the official title of the group.
According to the Funk & Wagnalls, this is the source of the term grateful dead:
“The motif of a cycle of folk tales which begin with the hero coming upon a group of people ill-treating or refusing to bury the corpse of a man who had died without paying his debts. He gives his last penny, either to pay the man’s debts or to give him a decent burial. Within a few hours he meets with a travelling companion who aids him in some impossible task, gets him a fortune or saves his life. The story ends with the companion disclosing himself as the man whose corpse the hero had befriended.” (Funk & Wagnalls New Practical Standard Dictionary, Britannica World Language Edition)
Additional Activities
Set up a screening of The Grateful Dead Movie (1977), a movie directed by Garcia that features live performances from the band’s five-night run at Winterland in San Francisco.
