Jerry Garcia is in fine form for the entire hour of the interview presented here. Cheerful, thoughtful, talkative, rational, and funny, Jerry is able to cover a lot of ground. This, in turn, allows Lisa Robinson to pose questions as more of a Deadhead than an interviewer, which makes for a great chat.
Recorded amidst a tour with the Dead and a scattering of solo acoustic shows, the goings on of all of Jerry's projects at the time serve as the impetus for the interview. But once the two get going, the talk meanders effortlessly through a number of topics covering his life, career, and outlook on life, making this a must-listen for any Jerry fan.
00:00 - New generations of Deadheads
01:30 - The Dead absorbing change to get stronger as a band
02:55 - Remaining true to themselves in order to continue to succeed
03:45 - The Dead experience: more than the music, but less than religion
04:41 - The celebratory nature of music
06:24 - Avoiding power
08:32 - Getting through off nights
09:56 - The audience discerning off nights
11:00 - Keeping performances fresh
12:04 - Adjustments made for the current tour
12:51 - Jerry's solo career / difference between the JGB and the Dead
14:56 - How the Grateful Dead keeps him off balance
16:35 - Why he has his own band
17:18 - The solo acoustic shows / singing / the suggestion of John Scher
19:17 - A emotional relationship to songs / understanding the meaning of the lyrics
20:38 - Not listening to lyrics / not thinking about his voice when songwriting
21:43 - Exhausting the ability to imagine
22:08 - Relationship between drugs and music
23:28 - The cartoon image of the Grateful Dead / the changing drug culture
25:16 - Temperance in Jerry's drug use
26:28 - The Dead's interaction with the record industry
29:44 - The structure of the Dead organization / less organized than ever
32:05 - Taping the shows
33:24 - Capturing the live vibe on a studio recording
34:12 - Approaches to studio recording
34:51 - Making Workingman's Dead
36:14 - How Jerry writes / writing with Robert Hunter
39:05 - Alternative career ambitions / getting his first guitar
40:14 - Losing his finger: ramifications, the story
41:46 - The guitar Jerry uses
42:44 - Practicing the guitar every day / Dead rehearsals
44:50 - The possibility (and impossibility) of the Dead disbanding
45:58 - Solo projects / how to kill the Dead
47:36 - Becoming a more serious musician
48:09 - What music Jerry listens to
48:53 - Reaction to New Wave music
49:59 - On-the-job training / the function of youth
52:03 - Barricades in the way of enjoying newer genres of music
53:53 - Conventional vs. unconventional aspects of the Dead and Jerry
57:52 - Problems and solutions with playing at arenas / reminiscing about the Fillmores
58:55 - OUTTAKE: ambitions for Dead videos