Four frontmen and Jerry Garcia doppelgangers from New York area Grateful Dead cover bands were gathered at Rolling Stone's Manhattan office earlier this month to compare performance experiences, battle in a trivia game and recount the details of their first ever Dead concert.
The "Jerry" of each band consisted of David Frankel of Shakedown, Michael Morrow of Pure Jerry, Mark Diomede of the Juggling Suns Project and Jason Smith of the Remnants, notes Rolling Stone.
"I remember taking way too much airplane hits," said Smith. "And I do remember them coming out of space ,and they started to go into 'The Other One.' I swear the entire stage turned into a vortex, and I thought we were all going right to hell. I was gonna hang on for the ride - and I never let go."
The Palo Alto band's career spanned 13 folk-rock studio albums and endless jam sessions with friends and musicians Trey Anastasio and Bruce Hornsby. The group halted performances when frontman Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack while receiving help for drug abuse in 1995. Although Garcia left the world twenty years ago, his music lives on through dedicated cover bands and musicians who refuse to let it die.
The Dead's "core four" consisting of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will embark on a "Fare Thee Well" 50th anniversary tour this summer with Phish's Anastasio manning the mic--the shows will also act as a tribute to the 20th anniversary of Garcia's death.
After quickly selling out of their anniversary tour dates including stops at Chicago's Soldier Field, the Dead decided to add two more dates for fans to experience a long strange trip of their own.
"The three Chicago shows will still be our final stand. We decided to add these two Santa Clara shows to enable more of our fans to celebrate with us one more time," the foursome wrote on their official page.
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