Singer, songwriter and guitarist Bob Weir—a founder of The Grateful Dead—died on Jan. 10. He was 78. He met Jerry Garcia in 1963, and they formed the Dead two years later, along with Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. How to describe the band? Not being a Deadhead, I will leave that to whomever wrote their Wikipedia entry: “Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music . . . the Grateful Dead are considered the pioneering godfathers of the jam band world.” Weir told Rolling Stone last year that the 1960s “was truly a special time. There was a preponderance of youth in our culture at that point. So much so that youthful considerations were at the forefront . . . there was a convergence of new factors in our cultural makeup. Rock & roll had emerged. Music was the code by which we communicated. Everybody really did have a good, solid handle on how they were thinking and feeling about whatever was going on.”
