Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead

As fans in San Francisco, home of the Grateful Dead, celebrate Jerry Garcia's birthday,Entertainment Weekly reports that a biopic film about the band's leader is currently in pre-production, with a script being adapted from Robert Greenfield's biography titled "Dark Star." Deadheads, as die-hard Grateful Dead fans are known, everywhere celebrate. Amir Bar-Lev, director of the documentary "The Tillman Story," has come on to direct the Garcia biopic, produced by Eric Eisner and Bona Fide partners Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa ("Little Miss Sunshine"), according to Variety.

A couple of decades ago, I had a Deadhead as a roommate. With him and a few other friends, I went to see the Grateful Dead play a "proper" show, as the three-day events are called. It was in a football field in Eugene, OR, a few hours down the highway from my home town of Vancouver, BC. I could only get one day off work, so I traveled to the venue on Friday and caught the Saturday and Sunday shows. My friends were disappointed that I would miss the full experience.

An important element of the Deadhead culture was Tin Pan Alley. The ultimate Grateful Dead fans would follow the band around the US to all their shows, making a living outside the venue. Tantalizing aromas wafted out of food stalls, trippy clothing and jewellery designers sold their wares, and services like palm-reading and fortune-telling were offered. The fellow blending up delightful smoothies full of fresh fruit and tangy yogurt could barely keep up with over-partied concert-goer demand in the mornings.

The shows were amazing. I have been to many, many concerts, a good portion of them outside. I had never before, nor have I ever since, seen a band take care of their audience the way the Grateful Dead did. Big speakers up on poles surrounded the entire venue. There was a raised platform in the center of the floor area for those in wheelchairs or with other disabilities. The opening band played for an hour-and-a-half, while the Dead played for over two hours each night.

The sound was fantastic. Really amazing. By the third day, I understood why my friends tried so hard to convince me to come for all three shows; the band built up a vibe, an intensity, to culminate in a crazy jam by the end of the third show.

Fully satisfied, at the end of the final show in Eugene, my Deadhead friend said, "I love Day Three. Bob (Weir) gets excited."

He wasn't the only one.

1 Jerry Garcia biopic in the works: Who should play him?
http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/07/22/jerry-garcia-biopic/

2 Jerry Garcia's star to shine on bigscreen
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118022032.html?categoryid=13&cs=1