R.I.P., Captain Trips: Jerry Garcia Would Have Been 67 Today

Captain Trips was a majestic conduit of pure Being when he played the guitar. He wove soaring, wailing sonic explorations of space and time, heartache and joy which took ecstatic Deadheads along for the ride.

Jerry could take the ineffable, the wordless and express it with breathtaking eloquence and sensitivity and nuance. When Uncle Jerry plugged in, he didn't just plug into an amp. He plugged into Godhead itself.

Happy Birthday and Thank You, Jerry!


“The whole thing is remembering, this is who we are. Remember who we are? We are in reality a group of misfits, crazy people, who have voluntarily come together to work this stuff out and do the best we can and try to be as fair as we possibly can with each other, and just struggle through life.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Death comes at you no matter what you do in this life, and to equate drugs with death is a facile comparison.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“I think it's too bad that everybody's decided to turn on drugs, I don't think drugs are the problem. Crime is the problem. Cops are the problem. Money's the problem. But drugs are just drugs.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“What we do is as American as lynch mobs. America has always been a complex place.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“You need music, I dont know why.It's probably one of those Joseph Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic and bliss, and power and myth, and celebration and religion in our lives and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“It's pretty clear now that what looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality, just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Nobody stopped thinking about those psychedelic experiences. Once you've been to some of those places, you think, "How can I get back there again but make it a little easier on myself?” ~ Jerry Garcia



“What's been great about the human race gives you a sense of how great you might get, how far you can reach.” ~ Jerry Garcia



“Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.” ~ Jerry Garcia







“What we're thinking about is a peaceful planet.
We're not thinking about anything else. We're not
thinking about any kind of power. We're not
thinking about any kind of struggles. We're not
thinking about revolution or war or any of that.
That's not what we want. Nobody wants to get hurt.
Nobody wants to hurt anybody. We would
all like to be able to live an uncluttered life.
A simple life, a good life.
And like think about moving the whole human race
ahead a step, or a few steps.”

~ Jerry Garcia