Happy Jerry Day everyone! In my lifetime I've been fortunate to be touched by the societal contributions of many artists, writers, actors, musicians and athletes, to include Herb Caen, Willie Mays, Cary Grant and others, but have had no greater privilege than to be present in many rooms filled with the music of Jerry Garcia.
Jerry kept apolitical to a huge degree. I never understood why.
When you play music you really can't afford to piss off a big chunk of your audience. Remember the Dixie Chicks?
@Sticks48 I don't think Jerry cared about that. Could be wrong.
@CallMeDave Sure he did. That whole band was about marketing. That is how they made most of there money. It is why you seldom see musicians being too openly political. It is bad for business.
@Sticks48 Willie Nelson? Neil Young? Throwing Stones?
@CallMeDave I worked with Willie, played behind Willie. Not a marketing genius, and didn't care. Young doesn't care about any of that stuff. Garcia was a master of marketing and business. He wasn't just some guitar playing hippie. He was very smart and knew exactly what he was doing.