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Jerry Garcia's Life

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Jerry Garcia's Life
Alex Walker
25 April, 2001
Period 1
Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead
Rock Legends of the 60s and 70s

Walker 2 Jerry Garcia 's life was filled with wonderful things, many of which he never expected in the first place. After an almost fatal heroin overdose in 1986, " Garcia philosophically stated, ‘ I 'm 45 years old, I 'm ready for anything, I didn 't even plan on living this long so all this shit is just add-on stuff. ' " ("Garcia") This attitude shows why Garcia did all of the things he did and even how some of them came about. Garcia, who "functioned as the preeminent pied piper of the rock era," led a life of great artistic ability which he used in many ways("Grateful Dead_ Rockhall"). Jerry Garcia was born as Jerome John Garcia on 1 August, 1942 in San Francisco, California ("Garcia"/ 'Grateful Dead"). Garcia learned to play folk and rock & roll when he was 15 even though the third finger on his left hand was missing because of an accident as a child. In 1959 he served in the U.S. Army for a very short period of time ("Garcia"/Erlewine_). J.J. Garcia, also known as Captain Trips, was a diabetic heroine addict and was arrested on charges of heroine possession in 1985(Erlewine_/"Grateful Dead_ Rockhall"/"Garcia"). While in a Forest Knolls, California drug treatment center, Garcia died on 9 August 1995("Grateful Dead"). Some of his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River not long after he died, and the rest were scattered into the San Francisco Bay in the second week of April 1996("This Is the Week That Was"E7). The effect of his death was equivalent to those of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. When Garcia died "The press was largely in agreement, concerning that a major talent in the world of music had passed on (either that or all the news editors on daily newspapers are all 40-something ex-hippies.)"("Grateful Dead") The "pied piper" was and is now no more than a legend in many people 's



Cited: Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Jerry Garcia." AMG. [On-line] Available: <http://www.allmusic.com/html> Accessed 28 March, 2001. "Garcia." The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 3rd ed. 1999. "Grateful Dead." The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 3rd ed. 1999. "Grateful Dead." Rockhall.com. [On-line] Available: <http://www.rockhall.com/html> Accessed 28 March, 2001. "Jerry Garcia Fine Art." Northamericanartworks.com. [On-line] Available: <http://www.northamericanartworks.com/html> Accessed 2 April, 2001. "This Is the Week That Was." Chattanooga Times Free Press. Saturday, April 14, 2001: E7. Garcia, who "functioned as the preeminent pied piper of the rock era," led a life of great artistic ability which he used in many ways.

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