Pigpen, top center, wasn't holding his gun aloft. The guy in white though -- the one who appears to be zieg-heiling and goosestepping may be holding a handgun. Looking anew at that post, I decided to republish it on Father's Day.
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| Bob Weir, standing top right |
Weir--in case you didn't know--was the teenaged founding member of what became the Grateful Dead. This is a pretty well-made documentary and tells a complete story of the band's history using interviews and personal photos and film. Even if you’re not a fan of their music, you might appreciate their musicianship a little more.
Highlights: Weir revisits his childhood home in the tony suburb of Atherton CA. He shows us the music shop and the exact spot in Palo Alto where he first met Jerry Garcia. He revisits 710 Ashbury St., the more or less famous house which the Dead all shared (pictured above). The story is mostly told from Weir's Marin Co. house with plenty of rolling fog.
Other Highlights: There is archival footage of the Merry Prankster days—some of which I’d never seen. And I learned more about the effect that the early beats -- especially Neal Cassidy -- had on Weir.
I was less impressed by Weir’s personal quest to find his own birth father. Especially since we learn that Weir was the go-to groupie magnet in the band. It’s just inconceivable that after so many countless couplings there aren’t a lot of little Weirs in the gene pool, potentially perpetuating the "problem." But that all goes unsaid. We’re supposed to be touched that Weir found his real dad in the end after losing Jerry. I was reminded somewhat of Lemmy and his own father problem which I mentioned here. Always daddy issues driving things, aren't there?
I could say more but it’d be a spoiler.
