"Keep it weird"
Just days after my previous post, Phil Lesh passed. And then there were
three--Bob, Mickey and Bill. At Phil's miraculous Terrapin Crossroads musical mecca, where I spent many a blissful moment,
he hung a sign saying "Keep It Weird" aside a stage.
I know, these are not Phil's words, but I get
his drift. Don't live a conventional life. Be bold. Aim high and outside. Take risks. Express yourself, and don't be boring
about it.
Thank you, Phil Lesh, for a real good time...and real good advice!
"You don't want to be the best at what you do...you want to be the only one"
I started
to get more into the Grateful Dead when we moved to Mill Valley in 1998, and came to think of myself as a full-fledged Deadhead
by their Fare Thee Well shows in Santa Clara and Chicago in 2015. These were Phil's last Dead shows (sort of), and Jerry was
twenty years gone.The love and intimacy of those stadium shows were nothing short of epiphanous. A long, strange trip indeed.
Our
home was a stone's throw from where Jerry long lived and Bob still does. My kids went to school with the band's. When I'd
break out a guitar at campfires under magnificent redwood canopies, ten other Dads would uncase theirs and join me in every
Dead tune I knew. The Grateful Dead permeated my days there, and still do.
The Dead's music and words resonate
deeply, and have helped me grow as a person in many ways. Little did I know upon arriving to Marin County that Jerry had already
captured the essence of how I always looked at big ticket philosphies like freedom and success:
"You don't
want to be the best at what you do...you want to be the only one." A pearl of wisdom from a great sage. Now, don't get
me wrong. Jerry took this mantra to much higher levels than I could ever hope to emulate. When I look back, though, he captures
the motivation for many of my best life decisions.
Thank you, Jerry Garcia, for opening my doors of perception
and confirming my life path.
