well, i had good intentions on being more productive on this site for 2026, but this was really not the way i wanted to get things started. i was finishing up cleaning up after dinner saturday night when i started getting texts from friends and readers sharing that bob weir had passed away. now, a few months ago i also had a few texts sent my way that he had suffered a stroke overseas, but after a few internet searches that turned out to be a false flag.

unfortunately, this time was different. unbeknownst to me he had been diagnosed with lung cancer last summer. reports say that he had ‘beaten’ that, but apparently the cause of death was from complications from that process which had affected his lungs. so, it was a bit of a shock last night when i got the news.

now, there is already a ton of ink being spilled on tributes, rightly so, to this amazing man and his career. i already know all of that (i have over a dozen books on the grateful dead in my music library downstairs), and you can do your own searches for those tributes.

instead i am going to share my personal thoughts on the grateful dead and bob – a look into the past and then some thoughts on where we go from here.

for over forty years i have been a fan of not only the grateful dead, but the various members over the years, and the post jerry iterations that have come and gone since 1995. they have been a large influence in my life in regards to my musical interests. it is easy to say that a person might be a ‘deadhead’ if they are big fans of the band. but i think that once you get inside that world there are different factions. one stereotype is the 60/70’s hippy stage where many went on tour relentlessly and with much devotion, and living the lifestyle of being on the road with them. that lasted about 6 weeks for me when i was in college – and i learned quickly that i was not cut out for that. i started to lose interest in the band overall in the early nineties when i felt that their live shows were not as consistently good any more, and i turned my focus on to other rabbit holes – early jazz, bluegrass, etc.

for some reason – and i cannot tell you what brought me back into the fold – i started getting back into the dead. if i had to guess it was about 25 years ago when i first started seeing either the bootlegs of shows or the early ‘dick’s picks’ releases in a music store i frequented at the time. i had a limited collection of live shows on cassette that i had put together over time. but the ones i began finding were on cd and much better quality than what i had. i know the first bootleg cd version i got was the barton hall/cornell show from may of 77. between the advent of the internet and the fact that the band had hired an archivist to begin selectively and strategically releasing high quality recording of their vast catalogue – i started collecting again. and i have not stopped since.

if people ask me who my favorite artist or band is, i don’t really have a definitive answer. but i think it is fair to say that the grateful dead would easily be in the top ten. but if i keeled over today and a person valuing my estate would look at my music collection, they might look at how many different recordings i own overall and surmise that they were far and away my favorite band – just on the sheer volume of what i have added over the years.

the grateful dead were unique in many ways – but two things that stand out are that they recorded nearly all of their live shows, and they never played the same show twice. there are different estimates, but by most accounts it is thought that they played upwards of 2500 shows in their thirty year career. it is also estimated that they have recordings – or at least partial versions – of around 2200. that makes them very collectible, if that is your thing. i currently have 328 of those shows on my hard drive, so over 10% of all their shows. so, if one of those versions of being a ‘deadhead’ is just the sheer love of their live shows and my willingness to keep wanting to hear more – than that is me.

the current archivist puts out four new shows each year, and one box set. so i expect that part of my journey will continue.

as far as any live shows being played moving forward by any living members, i think that is a phenomenon that may be going away soon. it is only the drummers now. i think bobby was a key lifeforce in keeping the torch going, especially with dead and company recently. my personal opinion is that if that band were to decide to keep going without him, they should change the name. not much ‘dead’ left, and all company.

‘that’s otis’

in regards to bobby, i will admit that for a long while i had a mixed opinion about him. a very good singer if he stayed within the rails, but often he would push the envelope and scream and yell and make you cringe a bit. plus he was a bit of a showman compared to the others on stage.

but he also penned some of the more iconic songs that they are known for. and if you look at setlists over time it was fairly normal that – outside of the covers they did – he and jerry would trade off doing their songs.

but one aspect of his career is one that i do not think he got enough credit for in the history of rock and roll. he is easily one of the best rhythm guitarists that ever lived. there are endless lists over time as to the ‘best guitarists’, but that is always a ranking of lead guitarists – like jerry. bobby understood the power that rhythm guitar could add to the overall sound, especially in an improvisational setting like the dead were often in. he was a big fan of 50/60’s jazz, and listened to not only the preeminent guitarists in that genre, but also the keyboard players. all of the band were fans of mccoy tyner, and bobby has said that he was often trying to emulate what mccoy did with his left hand on the piano, as opposed to the lead part on his right hand.

i grew more fond of bobby over the years as i began to appreciate that part of him more, and he also seemed to be the surviving member that cared the most about their legacy and keeping that flame burning. another turning point was watching a documentary about him from ten years ago – ‘the other one’. the name comes from a song he wrote early on that was a staple of their live shows, but also the fact that he was always the number two guy behind jerry.

i watched it again last night, and if you are looking to invest about 90 minutes of your time, it will show you much of what you should know about him.

there is a big hole in the dead world today. he will be missed.

* if you listen to ‘ripple’ on their ‘reckoning’ album, jerry says ‘that’s otis’. bob’s dog had walked on stage. i named my first dog after him.