Join us on a sonic journey as Tommy Kennedy takes us from the electric buzz of a Bob Dylan fandom to the psychedelic swirl of becoming a Grateful Dead convert. The episode kicks off with Tommy's rich storytelling, painting the scene of his first Grateful Dead concert where the air was thick with excitement and faces were adorned with vibrant paints. His tales extend beyond the music, revealing the tapestry of experiences that hooked him into the Dead's unique culture, and how one album, "Wake of the Flood," served as the catalyst for this transformation. We navigate through Tommy's recollections of the contrast between East and West Coast Dead shows, the ingenuity of sneaking an ice chest into venues, and the community spirit that saw him through an incredible 187 concerts.
As the conversation unfurls, we find ourselves reflecting on the broader picture of music appreciation, evoking memories of a time when ticket prices were a fraction of today's costs and each venue had its own distinct atmosphere. We share laughs over a Bobby Vinton concert and wax nostalgic about the Grateful Dead's dual drummers and the shift in their performance sound.
The episode culminates with a heart-to-heart about I Hike for Mental Health www.hikeformentalhealth.org, a nonprofit co-founded by Tommy after a chance encounter that married his love for hiking with a cause close to his heart. We examine how hitting the trails can be a balm for the mind and the critical importance of mental health research and trail preservation, efforts that Tommy's organization champions. A touching tribute to Brent, the "new guy" who left an everlasting imprint on the Grateful Dead, rounds out our discussion. His legacy, like the music of the Dead, continues to resonate with fans old and new, a testament to the enduring power of community and song.
Join us on a sonic journey as Tommy Kennedy takes us from the electric buzz of a Bob Dylan fandom to the psychedelic swirl of becoming a Grateful Dead convert. The episode kicks off with Tommy's rich storytelling, painting the scene of his first Grateful Dead concert where the air was thick with excitement and faces were adorned with vibrant paints. His tales extend beyond the music, revealing the tapestry of experiences that hooked him into the Dead's unique culture, and how one album, "Wake of the Flood," served as the catalyst for this transformation. We navigate through Tommy's recollections of the contrast between East and West Coast Dead shows, the ingenuity of sneaking an ice chest into venues, and the community spirit that saw him through an incredible 187 concerts.
As the conversation unfurls, we find ourselves reflecting on the broader picture of music appreciation, evoking memories of a time when ticket prices were a fraction of today's costs and each venue had its own distinct atmosphere. We share laughs over a Bobby Vinton concert and wax nostalgic about the Grateful Dead's dual drummers and the shift in their performance sound.
The episode culminates with a heart-to-heart about I Hike for Mental Health www.hikeformentalhealth.org, a nonprofit co-founded by Tommy after a chance encounter that married his love for hiking with a cause close to his heart. We examine how hitting the trails can be a balm for the mind and the critical importance of mental health research and trail preservation, efforts that Tommy's organization champions. A touching tribute to Brent, the "new guy" who left an everlasting imprint on the Grateful Dead, rounds out our discussion. His legacy, like the music of the Dead, continues to resonate with fans old and new, a testament to the enduring power of community and song.
Tales from the Lot, Episode 21. You were all part of the band. Tommy Kennedy's here to talk about 9377 in Englishtown, New Jersey, hiking for mental health and East Coast versus West Coast shows. Let's do it. Hi, welcome to Tales from the Lot. My name is Will, I'm your host and my guest today is Tommy Kennedy. We're going to talk about 9377 at Raceway Park and a bunch of other stuff. Tom's coming to us from Texas. How are you doing, Tommy? Good? I'm doing good, Good, good, Fantastic. Let's just start at the beginning. So like, are you from Texas originally?
Speaker 3:
No, I'm originally from New Jersey.
Speaker 1:
Oh, new Jersey, Okay, and you grew up there, there. So what were you into growing up musically?
Speaker 3:
Bob Dylan. Yeah, I was a Dylan head way before. I was a Grateful Dead head. And then after, when I went to college, I moved up to Boston, lived in a house, an old Victorian with 10 other guys and one girl, and somebody put on I'm going to say Wake of the Flood and I was like holy shit. And that's when the bus came by and I got on and my first show was up in Boston. Holy shit. And that's when the bus came by and I got on.
Speaker 2:
Nice.
Speaker 1:
And my first show was up in Boston. Gotcha, I didn't you mentioned Dylan. I didn't find Dylan really until after I found the dead, but I know I was kind of listening to Equal Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead at the beginning when I first found it.
Speaker 3:
I mean two amazing different types of words, you know while you mention that, do you know that Bob Dylan requested to become a member of the Grateful Dead?
Speaker 1:
I did not know that.
Speaker 3:
Yes, he requested to be a member of the Grateful Dead and you know the dead love Dylan and they got together and talked about it and they voted on it and they decided it probably wouldn't be the best thing for the band, so they declined them.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
When, when he toured with the Grateful Dead I can't remember what it was back in 86 or 87. Yeah, and he really enjoyed playing with the Dead. He didn't think he was, but he really did really After the first show. Then he got into it and he eventually requested to become a member of the Grateful Dead and they seriously considered it and then voted on it, decided it probably wouldn't be the best thing for the band and although I'm absolutely certain they made the right decision, I wonder what the dead would have been like with Dylan in there. You know, it would have been interesting, I think. But I'm glad that he denied them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I agree that probably would have been the greatest idea. But just have him be a permanent opener, make yeah, that's the idea, because it is a great mix. Your first show was in Boston, you said.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, about 1972,.
Speaker 1:
I think how did you adapt there? Were there some friends going, or were you the one who instigated and said listen, you guys have got to come see this.
Speaker 3:
No, we were living in a house up in Boston and, like I said, somebody put on Wake of the Flood and we were like holy crap. And then the rest is history. I heard that and you know it was early 70s. We were doing a lot of experimentation back then and back then people used to some people used to paint their faces to go to a dead show and so we decided to paint our faces to go to the show and we didn't have tickets right, so we had to take the trolley and I had my face all white, with red lips, blue eyeshadow and black teardrops coming off my eyes. And we get on the trolley and this one woman just burst out laughing and we're like what's so funny? They're like you guys.
Speaker 3:
We're like we're going to a dead show, you know.
Speaker 1:
Right, the circus is in town.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we got tickets and we got in, so it was great.
Speaker 1:
Nice, that's awesome. So those folks once you saw that did that same group just keep on seeing shows after that.
Speaker 3:
No, I was only up there for about a year, and so I actually went back down to jersey and, um, my good friend pete and I started going to the shows and we went to many, many, many shows, you know, and that's how I really, you know, really got into them right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's hard not to, it's they come that often. I mean they just toured forever, which is kind of a blessing and a curse, I guess, but it was easy to see them because they were just always coming around even in the 90s People say 187 shows.
Speaker 3:
What did you? Follow them around the country? I was like no, new York. You had 10 shows at the Garden, the Nassau Coliseum, new Jersey. Then I wound up moving to California and so we had Irvine shows, the Kaiser, the Coliseum, hell, they play all the time up there. And the next thing, you know, I wound up with 187 dead tickets. You know stuff.
Speaker 1:
Wow, I'm like holy shit. Yeah, I mean, and at that time too, in those locations, you're seeing some of the all-time classic shows. I mean, I talked about it at the beginning. Let's talk about this English Town, New Jersey show, for instance.
Speaker 3:
So the English Town was my brother, who was not a deadhead, he didn't even smoke pot or anything, he was totally straight. My friend Pete, and another friend of mine JC was his name and so we got there real early to get a good spot and we tried to bring an ice chest in. We had a big ice chest. They wouldn't let us in because we had beer. So we went back, rearranged the ice chest to hide the beer, went back into the same guy. Right next to the guy there was another guy and he goes I need to look in the ice chest. I opened it up and I pulled the ice to the side where I knew there was no beer and I said here he got us. And he looked over to the guy. He goes they're good, I already checked them.
Speaker 3:
So we got in with almost two cases of beer and about a fifth of vodka and two half gallons of orange juice. So we were stacked. We could have sold a can of beer for $10 in there. It was like, of course we didn't, but it was really, really good. It was nice to have that. Yeah, you were. It was nice to have that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you were and then we also had what was called at the time Blue Barrel. I don't know if you know what that was, but it was an LSD and it was a tiny little blue barrel. So all of us, except for my brother, we did the Blue Barrel and the show was actually going to be Marshall Tucker, new Riders and the Dead, and so we got there real early. So we were pretty close and I remember them turning on a hose because it was really hot that day. They turned a hose on for people to cool off because it was really hot that day. They turned a hose on for people to cool off.
Speaker 1:
Well as the day progressed, that hose turned into a huge, huge mud pit.
Speaker 3:
People were playing in the mud. It was crazy. And so my brother was drinking the screwdrivers and of course we were having some and some beers also. But with the LSD you can tend to drink a lot more because it's hard to override the LSD. Yeah, I do. Next thing, I'm looking at my brother and he is like, like, looking like he's dying to me. He's laying down, it's not so. I looked at him. I said kevin, you look really, really bad to me. I said do I need you to take you to the infirmary? And he looks at me. He goes no, I'm just drunk out of my mind. I'm like okay.
Speaker 3:
I said okay, you know, because when you're that high you can't tell you know.
Speaker 1:
And you never know what somebody put into his drink, you know.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's true too, you know. But yeah, he was fine, nice, and it was an amazing show. And in fact afterwards the album. There was a bootleg box set album, vinyl, and I bought it because the show was so good and I had that vinyl. I always bought bootleg albums because I was like they're not going to play forever and I want to listen to them for the rest of my life. Little did I know I didn't need to be singing shows. Um, right, um, yeah, it was um an amazing, amazing show.
Speaker 1:
um, yeah, I, I listened to it actually, but I, I I realized it was what tix pix 15, I think it is uh, really crisp copy that you can stream anywhere. So this afternoon I've been listening to that whole show and it is I mean, it's like just, it's just so much energy and uh, so I guess it's the first one back, so Mickey Hart had been in a car accident, yeah, and so they'd taken a little time off. This was the first one back and you could tell I mean there were some flubs here and there, but the energy that they were going at everything was so amazing.
Speaker 1:
The estimated on there is so good and really the whole thing is yeah, so definitely recommended listening there.
Speaker 3:
Years ago I went to a festival in Pennsylvania and the Marshall Tucker Band was there and I was right up front and he's like. You know, last time we were in this part of the country was 1978 in Englishtown. I looked up at him and I said no, 77. I said I was there and you were there, it was 77. He laughed, he goes. Well, we were pretty high, I was like so, but we can remember when it was yeah we know what year it was.
Speaker 1:
Let me get that close, that's great. Did New Riders play first, and then Marshall Tucker and then the Dead that day?
Speaker 3:
No, it was Marshall Tucker first, then New Riders and, if my memory serves me well, I think Jerry may have played Pedal Steel with the Nerps. That was going to be my next question. Actually, I think I'm pretty sure he did. You know, when you go to that many shows it's hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure he was playing pedal steer at that. We'd have to look at Dick's pick to see if he was, but I think he was yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, cool. So you know you mentioned you live in California for a while and so what are some of the standout works that you went?
Speaker 3:
to. Well, my favorite venue to see them in and I saw the dead there once, but I saw Jerry there a few times is the Kaiser Auditorium, and on one of Jerry's albums there's a picture of the.
Speaker 3:
Kaiser and the people in the crowd. It was a great, great venue. It was small. They had a bar downstairs. They pumped the music into the bar so when you wanted to go get a beer you could still hear the band. That's great. That was really great. I've been to a New Year's show. That was really great. And I've been to a New Year's show. That was really funny. And I remember going into the show and there were people standing there with $100 bills for a ticket and I was like, oh my God, somebody would pay $100?. And now I wish I could pay $ hundred dollars.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I gladly pay a hundred dollars for that yeah and uh, but at that time a hundred dollars for a concert was unheard of. You know um yeah, that was good and also, uh, irvine was um great place to see the dead and I lived really close to Irvine, so that was I considered playing in my backyard when they played Irvine.
Speaker 1:
Right, so that was like early mid-80s when you were living there. Then yes, Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
And I was in San Diego to about 19,. From 1980 to about 91, went back to Jersey for a couple of years, then went back to San Diego, then went back to Jersey, you know. So I've seen the East Coast shows and the West Coast shows and there's a huge difference between an East Coast show and the West Coast shows, and there's a huge difference between an East Coast show and a West Coast show. You see the dead in Madison Square Garden Everybody is singing, every word, you know, standing up. The first show I saw in California, everybody was sitting down and listening to it. I'm like what the hell? Um, it was really bizarre, you know.
Speaker 3:
After like a while, um, you know, years later, people were starting to really totally enjoy the shows better in the bay area, they always, but down in San Diego it was like it was weird, you know. And then there was another interesting show at Giant Stadium in New Jersey where, when I got home, my parents said what did you do today? I said I was at the Dead Show at the Meadowlands and like, well, we were at a concert at the Meadowlands. I was like well, you weren't at the Dead Show. And my mom was like no, those people are disgusting. We were seeing Bobby Vinton, I was like, oh gee, I missed that one.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, bobby Vinton yeah.
Speaker 3:
High up on the list? Yeah, exactly, but it was. Oh, that's hilarious, it was funny. My dad was a drummer. I always wished we could have taken him to see the dead, you know, because at that time having two drummers was and my father's generation never, never heard of, you know, and my dad would not have liked the music, but he would have appreciated his drums you know Right?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean, you know people say that, but I mean I get that sometimes it gets a little extended, but for the most part I mean it's Americana. I mean there's country inana, there's country in there, there's blues in there. I feel like, unless you're like I only listen to hard bop or something, then otherwise I feel like you're going to find something redeemable about it.
Speaker 3:
Well, I never went to the bathroom during space. I didn't want to miss it at all. I never went to the bathroom during space. I didn't want to miss it at all Because if you really pay attention to what they're doing, there's a method. It's not just noise, there's a method. There's actually a beat to it and if you really pay attention, it's very, very cool.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, as a drummer myself, I was always pretty inspired by the drum segment, and I remember at my first show I'd listen to some Random Dad. I didn't really like it, but my friend sort of forced me to go and obviously I loved it from the first note of half set. But uh, by the time drums ran, came around. I didn't. I wasn't expecting, I didn't know what it was, didn't know what that was going to happen. It was just like what? A whole 20 minutes of just drums, and I was blown away by it. That was one of the favorite parts. Now I will admit to going to the restroom a couple of times through Way to Go Home, though Well, my bathroom was one more.
Speaker 3:
Saturday night, because I think they played that every single Saturday night and I was like you know, especially if they did it for an encore, I was like, well, now I can beat the traffic. You know, I've heard that song so many times, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
If it's an encore, yeah, yeah if it's an encore, yeah For sure. If it's an encore, it's time to go. Yeah, but if not, then you know, maybe you'll get something good there. So you saw a hundred, and how many shows did you say?
Speaker 3:
187,. Give or take one or two, right around a hundred. Yeah, close enough, yeah, and it's funny because people one or two right around 100. Yeah, close enough, yeah. And it's funny because people think I was like touring and stuff. I was like no 187, I was like a novice, you know, I've seen them 500 times, you know and more, you know.
Speaker 1:
Right, and you know you were seeing them when they still had a while to go. So there's, there's plenty of years of dead available to you really, and so that's the big difference. I mean. I mean, like you said, they were touring all the time and over the years they just add up. I mean, uh, I'm sort of the same way with fish. I don't, I don't follow them around, but I steadily see my number rising and rising and rising. I live next to Dick's, I'm a short flight from Vegas, and so it just goes up and up because they play those places a lot.
Speaker 3:
I got to witness their progression from the early 70s and even tapes from the 60s, when they were really raw and how they progressed into being, I hate to say, professional, but more of a professional sound to them. More of a professional sound to them.
Speaker 1:
And it was really interesting seeing their progression all along you know yeah, no doubt I mean I was thinking of that today listening to that English town show that you know just how kind of clangy changy the guitars are. It's just we're all really loose and and not you know where you get to, like where they're in the mid late 80s and 90s where it's almost like a studio sound coming out of the speakers because it's so clean. Yeah, and just I mean really clean sound by the end, which was good, and you know they were ahead of their from when Donna and Keith were there up through to when Brent came on. I feel like there was kind of like right after that it really started getting a lot cleaner. It did.
Speaker 3:
Sound-wise. Yeah, he really, really truly added to the band big time. Yeah, it was a really really good choice to bring him on. Unfortunately, he succumbed to the demons, but he was really, really good for the band, I think.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so you're involved with a non nonprofit also. Is that right Correct? And that's called Hike for Mental Health Correct. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3:
We started this about 12 years ago. I was at a Holiday Inn right near where I lived having dinner. A girl walked in. She sat down, ordered a hamburger. I never saw a woman eat a hamburger like that in my life. I looked at her and said that burger never had a chance. She goes. I've been fantasizing about it for three months. I've been in China eating rice and so she was there on business. I lived right next door. Then she introduced me to another guy, leo, who was also staying at the Holiday Inn and we would go out and do some hikes and stuff.
Speaker 3:
Nancy moved back to Texas and Leo and I were still in Jersey and we did some hiking and we were having dinner. And we were still in Jersey and we did some hiking and we were having dinner and we were like wouldn't it be good to do something to give back? And Leo said well, let's see. I said something to do with hiking. He goes let's see, why do we hike? I immediately said we hike for mental health. We feel so much better after hiking. And originally he didn't like the name he goes. That's really a long name. I said yeah, but it says exactly what we do and so that's when it was conceived. It was born about six weeks later.
Speaker 3:
And we raise, we're all volunteer, nobody gets a salary. All the donations 100 donations go to the cause. We even pay the processing fee out of our own pockets, um, for credit cards, um, and, like I said, nobody gets a salary or anything like that. And 80 we give goes to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in New York. They give $50,000 grants to scientists that are on the cutting edge of a breakthrough but have not been funded yet. Once they get funded, it's a lot easier for them to get funded again. We give 10% to the Appalachian Trail and 10% to the Pacific Crest Trail. And we're on our 12th year. Last year we gave a check for $15,000. And our checks for the Brainy Behavior Research Foundation are always over $50,000. Sometimes it can be as high as $80,000. Wow.
Speaker 1:
So what type of events and what kind of things do you guys organize and how does it all?
Speaker 3:
We have hikes going on all over the country. Anybody can volunteer to lead a hike for us. If they Google hike for mental health, we come right up. One of our premier events is we do a hike up mount washington in new hampshire every year. We already have about over 100 people signed up for that one. Already this year. That one we usually raise over 2525,000. That's a lot of fun and this year we're incorporating the COG so people can sign up to take the COG up if they don't feel like hiking up the mountain. So it's just a really good fun event.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. I mean, I'm here in. Colorado, so I take a hike here and there around the state so I feel like 200 better every time. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, I mean just get some air, getting taking something, I'm seeing some wildlife and and and whatever. Uh, you know, by the time I'm done, I'm, I'm just feeling great.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I did the 1100 mile florida trail in 2015 and, uh, that took 10 weeks, wow yeah, that's impressive yeah half that trail is underwater. If your feet start to get dry, you know you're heading back into water. You know.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Sounds like there might be an element of danger there too, in Florida and shallow waters.
Speaker 3:
I stopped counting alligators at 100, and that was only two weeks into the trail.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:
And you know, snakes and goddamn the mosquitoes are unbelievable.
Speaker 1:
You know yeah. Yeah, you got some mosquitoes in goddamn, the mosquitoes are unbelievable, you know? Yeah, you've got some mosquitoes in Texas though too. Yeah, we do. That's a great thing, and do you know of anything going on here in Colorado?
Speaker 3:
Not at the moment, but if you go on our website you can see all our hikes, where they are, you know, and things like that. You can sign up and do it. All our events are non-stigma events, so we tell people. If you want to talk, if you have a mental illness one in four people suffer from some form of mental illness If you want to talk about it, you can. If you don't want to, you don't have to. We look at it like you have a cold.
Speaker 3:
We don't look at it like there's no stigma involved you know, and you know, when I was a kid, there was a stigma about breast cancer. Women didn't talk about it. They died a painful death. They were embarrassed about it. Now we're save the ta-tas. We can do the same thing for mental illness. More people will seek help and we'll have less people taking their lives.
Speaker 1:
No doubt that's a great cause. Thanks for that. Amazing work. At the end, I'd like to wrap up with recommendations. I know deadheads are smart, interesting people who like cool stuff. So is there a book or an album or a movie or something that's really struck you lately?
Speaker 3:
Well, this is an old book. It's, I'm sure, out of print, but you can still find it. It's the Rolling Stone interview of Jerry and it was done probably very early 70s and it's a great book. It's a paperback and Jerry is really open and candid. It's just a really really good interview. I should have grabbed it just to show you what the cover looks like, but this is also very cool because I can't tell you how many times the words I heard were not the words being sung, and this corrects all that. You can get all the words and there's linear notes about when the song was written and all kinds of good information on that.
Speaker 1:
The annotated Grateful Dead lyric book. Is that right?
Speaker 3:
Yes, the complete annotated Grateful Dead lyrics. It's a really, really good book. And you know, after Jerry passed, I went. I saw the dead, I saw the other ones. What was the other incantation I had Further?
Speaker 1:
Further, further.
Speaker 3:
And it was good music. I mean, there's no doubt they were all talented. But I couldn't get over the listening to them. And they'd be playing a Jerry song and I'd be like, yeah, but Jerry was going like damn it, you know, and I just couldn't get over it. So I stopped seeing them, you know.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I haven't seen a whole lot of stuff either. I mean, I saw the first Further tour and you know, one of the offshoots that I was really impressed with was the Mickey Hart band that was touring a few years ago with David Schools from Widespread Panic on bass. That was a group that I was really impressed with because they were doing something different. I felt like they were making new music essentially. But if you look at what Bobby's doing with Dead Company, that's cool and I'm glad that he's keeping it alive. I don't want to say anything bad about that because it needs to be kept alive. But he had that album, uh called blue mountain, of like folk songs and americana and stuff that I thought was fantastic and that was a really good lane for him to maybe stick with. Uh, are you familiar with that album, blue mountain?
Speaker 3:
that I am not. I will be now um yeah check it out.
Speaker 1:
I mean it's. It's just like it's all new music and it's very folky and Americana and it felt a lot like what Johnny Cash was sort of doing, sort of at the end of his life with Rick Rubin or whoever I think that's who was producing it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Sort of gothic sounding Americana. I don't know, but I thought it was a good lane for him. His voice really suited the music, Wow. But you know he makes a lot of money with Dead Company, so there's something to be said for that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, there's no doubt they're making amazing money.
Speaker 2:
From the makers of the Big Bong Theory and how I Met your Dealer comes the hilarious new sitcom Two Hippies and a Cop lighting up your Thursday nights this fall on TFTL-TV. Lenny and Woo are two free-spirited hippies living the high life with their love of concerts and herbal remedies.
Speaker 1:
Hey, lenny, wasn't that show so good last night? Totally epic man. I'm pretty sure I left my body somewhere in the middle of that second set. Oh, so that's where you went. I thought you went to the restroom.
Speaker 2:
But here's the twist their new roommate is none other than Cletus Strait, an Indiana state cop. All right, listen up, you two. No more jam sessions past midnight and keep the incense away from the smoke detector. Cue the chaos, the mix-ups and the side-splitting shenanigans as these three unlikely roommates navigate their way through life, love and the pursuit of peace and understanding. Two hippies and a cop, because sometimes the best friendships are the ones you least expect.
Speaker 3:
Don't miss it Thursdays at 8 pm only on TFTL-TV. I met Phil one time and I said to him what do I say to Phil Lesh Except thank you, thank you, thank you. I said you know, you really made us feel like we were part of the band. He got up, came around the table and hugged me and he said you guys were part of the band. He got up, came around the table and hugged me and he said you guys were part of the band. We played off you, just like you played off us. He goes, you were, you guys were absolutely part of the band and uh, and that was kind of cool, you know, because I had dreams where I'm up on the stage, you know, off the side, while they're performing stuff.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, and I felt that too. I mean even the limited time I was able to see him. There was a give and take of energy. You could tell, I mean from a low-energy show to a high-energy show and the difference in the crowd you can see it, no doubt yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 3:
And the jerry shows. I saw jerry in chula vista, california, just before he went into that coma. Um, it's like a day or two before he went into the coma and I was there with a bunch of my friends. I said all right, all right, we got to go. And they're like can I say that he's not going to come on for about 45 minutes after the show. I said no, jerry comes on immediately. It was an 8 o'clock show. At 8 o'clock he's walking out on the stage. They didn't believe me.
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah, jerry was never late, always right on time. The show starts at 8. He walks out on the stage at 8 o'clock.
Speaker 3:
I did not know that, yeah, and he did one of my favorite songs, shining Star, and I remember being in the crowd and as soon as he hit the first note I yelled out Shining Star. And the guy about 12 rows down looks up and he goes oh my God, that's a good call, you know. But what happened was Jerry, and I can't find a tape of it. But Jerry got stuck in the song and it went on and on and on. It was like this is my favorite Jerry song. I was like Jerry, come on, End it. And so I think he was like maybe getting a little spacey from because he went right into a coma. I think it was the next day or the day after, you know.
Speaker 3:
But, I remember going what the hell's wrong with him, why can't he end this song, you know. But I remember going what the hell's wrong with him, why, why can't he end this song. You know, it was weird, you know, yeah, but he influenced my life as much as my father did, to be honest with you, and I wouldn't be the same person I am now if it were not from, obviously, my father, but also the Grateful Dead.
Speaker 1:
You know what was sort of your favorite era. Did you prefer the Keith?
Speaker 3:
and Donna era versus the Brent era versus the Vince era Brent by far. Yeah, you know Keith, by the time I really started seeing the dead, keith was not very vibrant. And you know Donna. We loved Donna in the band. We loved seeing her. We're like is she going to be dressed up or is she going to be wearing jeans or what? You know a voice, in all honesty, most times was fine, but every now and then her voice just sucked. You know Brent came in and did absolutely wonderful, wonderful job. The unfortunate thing was he was there for like 10 years and everybody was calling him the new guy.
Speaker 3:
You know you mentioned that he goes. Yeah, he's been with us for 10 years and they all still call him the new guy. You know, he was really really um very talented, you know yeah, indeed, yeah, I, I didn't.
Speaker 1:
I didn't get a chance to see him live. I came on a couple years or a year later, uh, but uh, definitely he was my favorite as far. I mean, just I just love his voice, I mean the tone that he added to the harmonies and and just his voice was so good and the passion.
Speaker 3:
You know, he sung with passion you know he played with passion, sang with passion. He was passionate. There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1:
One of my favorite things was watching that Downhill From here video where just him and Jerry grinning so hard at each other, pushing each other on and, uh, I love that.
Speaker 3:
That is so cool I hope everybody picks up on that. It's not like just you and I, um, because that was so cool, you could just see them playing with each other, you know.
Speaker 1:
And uh yeah, that's absolutely fantastic, you know you can see the love and everything between them right there. It was amazing.
Speaker 3:
It was great and anytime Bobby could remember the word to truck, and that was always a positive.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's awesome. All right, tommy kennedy, thank you so much for for for joining me here and telling your stories, and it was sure great to talk to you and to meet you today all right, thank you very much also.