0:04

Double Elvis Club

0:08

is a production of I Heart Radio and

0:10

Double Elvis. Ron

0:15

Pigpen McKernan died at the age

0:17

of and he lived a

0:19

life that required cosmic karmic intervention

0:22

to bring it to an end. And I

0:24

can give you twenty seven reasons why that statement

0:26

is true. Three would

0:28

be the number of eventful hospital stays

0:30

he'd have, not from his lifelong

0:32

devotion to drinking, but due to

0:35

a genetic disease. Another

0:37

two would be the number of years he'd give up

0:39

his favorite pastime in an attempt to reverse

0:41

the damage of that disease. Four

0:44

more would be the number of days he'd be gone

0:47

before the dead would pay tribute to him in

0:49

an unlikely way by partaking

0:51

in that favorite Pigpen pastime

0:53

and drinking too much at his wake.

0:56

Another four would be the number of players who

0:59

would do their best to fill the void pig left.

1:02

Ten more would be the number of years that would

1:04

pass from the time Ron McKernin and

1:06

Jerry Garcia first formed a musical

1:09

bond to the day that the first of them would

1:11

shuffle off this mortal coil. And

1:14

four would be the number of dead members

1:16

who would continue to wave that flag

1:18

after Jerry followed pig into the dark

1:21

of night, all totally

1:25

on this our final episode

1:27

of season five, eventful hospital

1:30

stays reversing the damage, filling

1:33

the void in Ron pig

1:35

Pen, McKernan, Um, Jake

1:37

Brennan, and this is

1:40

the cloth. The

2:27

phone was buzzy. It

2:29

shook violently on the hook, its

2:31

shrill ring echoing off the walls. The

2:34

two women sitting across from each other at the desk

2:36

exchanged a long look, and

2:39

the phone buzzed again, and they knew

2:41

who was calling. He called most

2:43

days, but one of the women's side, and

2:45

finally picked it up. Hello, Hey,

2:49

pig. About fifteen

2:51

miles north of San Francisco. On the other

2:53

side of that line, pig Pen sat

2:55

in half empty apartment in quarter

2:57

Madera, his patented cowboy

3:00

hat covering his black hair. He

3:02

had started to make a habit out of calling the grateful

3:04

dead San Francisco offices about nothing

3:06

in particular, just the chat. In

3:09

between drags of a cigarette. He asked

3:11

how things were going over there, what they're up

3:13

to today? Mundane everyday

3:15

conversation. But that mundane

3:17

everyday conversation was like medicine

3:20

for pick after a

3:22

lengthy stay at the hospital in Nevado,

3:24

he went home to poo Alto, and

3:27

after a handful of weeks under the care of

3:29

his parents, he was back to his own

3:31

place. Being alone

3:33

was starting to get to him. The rest

3:35

of the dead had visited Pig at his apartment,

3:38

but now they had gone on tour, and he hadn't

3:40

seen any of his musical comrades for more than a

3:42

month, and the only person he'd ever seen

3:44

at home was the medical staff who came to check

3:46

on him, and occasionally his landlady.

3:49

Maybe two or three times a week he'd hopped in

3:51

his forward Cortina and cruise over to

3:53

a friend's house, or making in person visit

3:56

to the office is just to break up the day.

3:58

But besides that, he had just been gathering

4:01

dust while the dead were out of town, and

4:03

still the calls to the Dead's office became a

4:05

way to tether himself to the world. And

4:08

although Pig had nursed his girl V back

4:10

to Hell after she had a stroke, V

4:13

would not be returning the favor Pig

4:15

had sent her away. He didn't want her

4:18

around, not when he looked like this.

4:20

The romance had had survived all of Pigs

4:23

travels on the road, and his raucous lifestyle

4:25

was officially over. The

4:28

other half of his heart was out there on the road,

4:30

somewhere in the United States, touring playing

4:33

the tunes he once banged out night after night

4:35

on his organ, and there wasn't much the cure

4:37

pigs blues. He couldn't drink,

4:39

and the only thing he cared to smoke were

4:41

cigarettes, but they didn't drive out

4:43

the feeling gnawing at his bones, an

4:46

overwhelming sensation of loneliness.

4:49

There was really only one thing he could do when he

4:51

felt like this. Keep

4:53

coughed as he pulled himself out of bed, straining

4:56

with each little movement as he tried to keep

4:58

himself moving, keep himself working

5:01

towards something. He picked up an acoustic

5:03

guitar and moved to a chair at a small

5:05

table with a tape recorder. His bony

5:08

body lurched over it, and he ashed

5:10

his cigarette and pressed record. Pig

5:13

strummed his guitar, and the vibrations

5:15

and the strings ricocheted through his weakened body

5:17

like a buckshot. He clenched the neck

5:19

of the acoustic and steadied himself. The

5:22

pain throughout his body was still ruthless,

5:24

but the music somehow seemed to help.

5:27

As the warm hum of the tapes spun along,

5:30

Pig began to pick out notes, and then

5:32

his voice found the melody. Words

5:35

and music he had written that he had been working

5:37

on for quite some time, and they felt

5:39

different when he wrote the months ago, but now,

5:41

in this moment, they felt more honest,

5:45

pain, weakness, a broken heart,

5:47

Pig and long process these topics

5:49

through others words Robert Hunter

5:51

otis writing Lightning Hopkins, but these

5:54

words, these were his,

5:57

This is how he felt. The

6:00

words echoed throughout the hollow apartment and

6:02

onto the tape, and they were both urgent

6:04

and had a narrave acceptance, and the

6:06

words of a man who knew the other side wasn't so

6:08

far off that the great mystery of life

6:10

would be answered shortly. And

6:13

the music was intended for an album.

6:15

Bob and Jerry had made their own records, and both

6:17

had been insisting it was Pigs turn. Maybe,

6:20

but maybe the tunes could just be on the next dead record.

6:23

Either way, Pig just longed to get

6:25

back to work. He wasn't bowing out,

6:27

not yet. Even with his current medical

6:30

status, he was still certain he'd get back on the road,

6:32

back in the studio, his doctors who

6:34

just had to clear it. For

6:37

the past decade, Pig had done what his

6:39

idols had done. He lived the life the

6:41

way they did. He lived life in the moment.

6:44

The future was just something out in the distance, a

6:46

foreign concept. But the future

6:49

inevitably arrived and his body couldn't keep

6:51

up. It spoke to Pig by

6:53

shutting down time after time, begging

6:55

him to stop, time after time,

6:57

putting him back in the hospital, and time

7:00

after time, Pig gave it just enough

7:02

TLC to get himself back on the road

7:04

or into the studio. But

7:06

now he had to be extra careful.

7:10

Pig was watching all his levels, charting

7:13

everything he ate, following his doctor's

7:15

orders, and paying close attention to what was

7:17

being asked of him medically. His

7:19

fridge and freezer are no longer full of beer or

7:21

liquor. We're stuffed with very specific

7:24

meals. Gone or the days

7:26

of thunderbird bourbon, cheap barbecue

7:28

and sausages. Pig and cut

7:30

his teeth on blues clubs and booze for

7:32

the past fifteen years. From

7:34

the moment he woke up to the moment he passed out,

7:37

Pig lived his life authentically hard,

7:39

drinking long hours on stage or

7:41

in the studio, constant travel

7:43

constantly working, and doing anything

7:46

necessary to get by. If

7:49

there was any possibility of making it back

7:51

on the road, back to playing music

7:53

with his brothers, Pig would do anything

7:55

it took, even if that meant completely

7:57

changing his lifestyle. And they

8:00

had indeed felt like they were turning around.

8:03

The traveling was hard on his body, sure, but there

8:05

wasn't about the traveling. Hell, it wasn't even about playing

8:07

the audiences. Pig just wanted to

8:09

make music with his friends, the same

8:12

way he had been for the last decade. He

8:14

sung the last bars of his solemn tune

8:16

and stop the tape recorder. He found

8:19

his way to a window and lit up another cigarette,

8:21

and the sun shone brilliantly outside,

8:23

and Pig wanted nothing more than once again

8:25

be part of the world. He

8:27

followed this routine throughout the month of January

8:30

nineteen seventy three, and did the same for

8:32

February. Nothing changed

8:34

in everything changed. No

8:36

matter how he tried, Pig couldn't kick

8:38

the illness. He couldn't repair the damage

8:40

that had been done. He played music, followed

8:43

his diet and hoped against all hope

8:45

that something would turn around, but

8:47

nothing ever really did. He could never quite

8:49

get up that hell, and

8:52

just as Pig had slowly departed from

8:54

the dead, he was now slowly

8:56

departing from the world. His

8:58

car left the garage less and less

9:01

until it stopped leaving altogether. He

9:03

called down to the Dead's offices again and

9:05

requested that his organ be brought up to the house.

9:08

He was glad to see the few members of the Dead

9:10

family that delivered it, and greeted them

9:12

as he always did, with great warmth

9:15

and a big smile. It seemed like

9:17

a good sign. To

9:19

the best knowledge of the Dead and the rest of their organization,

9:22

their brother was getting better. Pig didn't

9:24

let on how bad things actually were. He didn't

9:26

let on about any paint at all. He didn't want

9:28

them to feel uncomfortable. Pig's

9:30

organ was the only thing that kept him company for the

9:32

next few days. On March eight,

9:35

Vree, pig Pen's landlady,

9:37

happened by the apartment and figured she would

9:40

stop in and see how pig Pen was

9:42

doing. His mailbox was

9:44

stuffed with letters. She looked

9:46

through the front window and could see a

9:48

body laying on its side, Pigpen's

9:51

body. That day he

9:53

was pronounced dead. He was twenty

9:55

seven years old. Even

9:57

though Pigpen had been sick on and off against

10:00

two years, his death still

10:02

came as a shock. It wasn't

10:04

even the drinking that got him. It was a genetic

10:07

disease. It seemed cruel.

10:09

The original inspiration for the Grateful dead.

10:12

Their heart and soul was dead

10:15

and gone.

10:47

Jerry Garcia was anxiously tapping

10:49

his foot. The cold beer in his hand

10:52

shook ever so slightly. It was

10:54

over all of it, the

10:56

grateful Dad, as he knew it and as the world

10:58

knew it done. The

11:01

knot his chest started to tighten up again.

11:04

He took a deep breath and tipped back his beer.

11:07

He couldn't remember how many he'd had at this point.

11:09

He lost track an hour ago. All

11:12

he knew was said. It was more than he was accustomed

11:14

to. The cold brew cut

11:16

through the searing pain. But then

11:18

his head began to swim and the

11:20

alcohol was slowly taking over. It

11:23

made him think of so many things, and the way

11:25

the floor smelled during the dead sets

11:28

in ruined Paol alto the

11:30

music car on the festival express cross

11:32

continental train ride. They all

11:34

got hammered there, but mostly it made

11:36

him think of his friend. His friend

11:38

for whom the cold drink in his hand had held so much

11:41

importance. His friend who helped

11:43

him create the band to which he would dedicate most

11:45

of his life. His friend whom he

11:47

believed, even given his lifestyle, would be by

11:49

his side forever. And that

11:51

friend was now on the other side. He'd

11:53

been given a front row seat to the great Gig in the

11:55

sky, but he was up there all alone.

11:59

That last thought, or Jerry a bit Pig

12:01

was doing it alone, just like he passed

12:04

away in his apartment alone.

12:08

A short while before that, Pig had

12:10

come down to the Dead's rehearsal space. He

12:12

was in no shape to play, but he wanted a

12:14

photo with the band, his final

12:16

photo with the band. The other band

12:19

members brushed it off, and they were too busy.

12:21

Fuck. The regrets sent Jerry's

12:23

tight chest into overdrive. Now

12:26

they never get a chance to take another photo with

12:28

their friend. Jerry was destroyed,

12:31

as were the rest of the dead and their extended family.

12:34

They were each informed by an unexpected phone

12:36

call or an impersonal newspaper article.

12:39

There was no final goodbye. No holding

12:41

Pig's hand at the hospital, no long

12:43

battle for which they could offer their support. Pig

12:46

had been up and down, but even when things

12:48

seemed fatal, he always bounced back, and

12:51

the Dead believed he would once again sit behind that

12:53

organ and come up to the mic and turn the show into

12:55

a revival. He seemed so optimistic

12:58

the last few times he'd been around the group. They

13:00

were wrong. There would be no revival.

13:04

Although Pig hadn't been a fully functioning member

13:06

of the band for more than a year and hadn't

13:08

played a show with the band in almost nine months.

13:10

Although the group had gone directions that far outreached

13:13

anything pig Pen was capable of from a musical

13:15

standpoint, and although he had been holding

13:18

on for dear life for years now, constantly

13:20

adjusting to suit the needs of the band, the

13:22

Dead didn't seem like the dead without him.

13:25

His death still left an immeasurably

13:28

large black hole. It wasn't

13:30

just about the music for the Dead, this

13:32

was their brother. He'd been there since

13:35

day one. It might have been the alcohol

13:37

talking, but Jerry wanted to end the group

13:40

then and there. The life force of

13:42

Pigs sustained something very precious and

13:44

important in the dead's energy and

13:46

without any thought, and they were something else

13:48

entirely. They weren't even the grateful

13:50

dead. But musing upon the funeral

13:53

of the band was not what the evening was about.

13:57

They had a real funeral to attend. The next day,

14:00

the dead and their extended family had gathered

14:02

just a few miles from the place of pigs Demise

14:04

at Bob Weir's new house in Mill Valley

14:06

for a wake to send their friend and

14:08

brother off in a way that he would have approved

14:11

of. This wasn't just some stuffy

14:13

hall or church. They were out under

14:15

the stars that pig now danced amongst.

14:18

They were surrounded by cases of ice cold beer

14:20

and several grills roasting all types of

14:22

beef and birds, a meal that

14:24

their brother in arms would have undoubtedly approved

14:26

of. Bob's house, which may

14:29

have been able to hold fifty people tops was

14:31

flooded packed will to wall with hundreds

14:33

of visitors. The crowd of Pigpen

14:35

admirers had now spilled out into the

14:37

backyard. Jerry looked

14:40

around the yard and he quietly studied

14:42

the familiar faces that were gathered. Their

14:44

emotions ranged from Malaysian to

14:46

devastation, all sharing

14:48

stories and smiles about their dear friend.

14:51

It was clear the Pig's impact went beyond

14:54

music. Then he meant something special

14:56

and different to every single person he met, and

14:58

they did their best to try and under stand the tragic

15:00

loss of a friend. And the music Pig

15:03

loved was older, but he was young, too

15:05

young, and it seems unfair. Jerry's

15:08

chest started to get tight again. He wondered

15:10

if he could have done something, something different,

15:12

something more, something to prevent the pain they were all experiencing.

15:15

At this moment, Pig's father

15:17

sent the Dead's entire organization a

15:20

letter when he had heard the news. He told

15:22

him it wasn't their fault, that there was nothing

15:24

they could have done. Still, Jerry

15:26

couldn't help but feel that nagging guilt, but inevitably

15:29

falls a death like this. It

15:32

was as if the universe had conspired against

15:34

him. As the dead star arose,

15:36

Pigs faded and now here they

15:38

were at their creative and commercial peak

15:40

and he was gone. Nothing was

15:42

going to bring him back. Jerry

15:45

moved to a nearby cooler and picked up another

15:47

beer. He closed his eyes for a moment

15:49

and listened to the tunes that emanated from a nearby

15:51

stereo. He grinned. The

15:54

cosmic irony of Pig's death now saw

15:56

the band drinking heavily after pig spent months

15:58

abstaining ship it, and they

16:00

were the ones who were always trying to get Pig to take some acid.

16:03

He didn't have to go and die to get the house some booze.

16:06

It was a habit they take up in turns for the next

16:08

three decades. It's seemed the only

16:10

fitting way to send him off. A requiem

16:13

for Pigpen. The

16:15

next morning, members of the Grateful Dead's extended

16:18

family in Pigpen's biological

16:20

family, gathered for a more traditional funeral

16:22

out of mortuary. The duality of

16:24

the wake and the funeral represented the duality

16:26

of pig the scruffy guy dressed

16:29

like a Hell's angel and who loved to party,

16:31

was at his core a caring, compassionate

16:34

soul. That compassionate soul

16:36

was returned to the infinite ether and his

16:38

body laid in a casket. The

16:40

dead made their way pass, saying their final

16:42

couldbyas in his final

16:45

outfit, Pigpen looked as he ever

16:47

did. His family chose to bury him

16:49

in his leather vest and a brown collared shirt

16:51

with his cowboy hat carefully placed on a

16:53

pillow next to his head. Pigs

16:55

family, as authentic as he was, knew

16:57

that the last thing Pigpen would have wanted

17:00

to be buried in was a three piece

17:02

suit. They honored their son as

17:04

he was. Just

17:06

days after the band said their final goodbyes, they

17:08

were back on the road for a month to play a series

17:10

of shows on the East Coast. Even

17:13

though they hadn't had Pigpen on stage for almost

17:15

a year, things still felt different. They

17:18

all knew they would feel different forever. A

17:20

few months later, when The Dead finally returned

17:22

to the recording studio to deliver their first

17:24

new materials since American Beauty, their

17:27

first studio album ever without Pigpen

17:29

as a member of the band. The songs were

17:31

already well established parts of the Dead Slave

17:34

Show, and those songs became

17:36

Wake of the Flood, and these

17:38

songs were different. Though the

17:40

Dead were once again steering their ship to new

17:42

territory, shedding the Americana

17:45

influenced tunes from their previous two albums.

17:48

The songs were a combination of jazz, R

17:50

and B and reggae influences. Wake

17:53

of the flood represented the state of

17:55

the band, once again reaching into

17:57

the universe for something new, and

18:00

if the Grateful Dead We're never going to be the

18:02

same again, then the music may as well

18:04

change to One song

18:06

in particular, Stella Blue,

18:09

was first played live at Pig's final concert.

18:12

Stella Blue told the story of the musician

18:14

at the end of a long downward spiral,

18:16

finding his dreams to be broken in the streets,

18:19

he walked on to be lonely. Although

18:21

the song was written before pigs Demise, it

18:24

perfectly summarized his last few

18:26

years on earth, and though the lyrics

18:28

spoke of pain, they also spoke

18:30

of hope and redemption and the opportunity

18:33

to once again shine. Pig

18:35

pens light continue to shine to the prison

18:37

of the Grateful Dead's music. Through

18:40

that dream they all dreamed, through that

18:42

original fire. It's still burned

18:44

and always would. We'll

18:49

be right back after this word, word

18:51

word, Jerry

18:59

Garcia struggled up the stairs to the

19:01

stage. He placed one foot

19:03

in front of the other, slowly, deliberately,

19:07

like a long distance runner, with one foot out

19:09

the door. He exhaled as he hit

19:11

the top step and then took a deep breath

19:13

filling his lungs with the warm summer breeze

19:15

that blew through Soldier Field. They're

19:18

also blew through Jerry's beard as he stepped

19:20

to the microphone kind of tickled.

19:23

The crowd let on an emphatic cheer as

19:25

the ringleader of the Grateful Dead stepped to the

19:27

center of the ring. They had just been treated

19:29

to an inspired set from the band, who

19:31

had undergone a resurgence of sorts over the

19:33

last few years, returning to

19:35

the stage more reliably after years of

19:37

sporadic gigs due to a legal

19:40

dispute. They were without their guitarist and lead

19:42

songwriter, not to mention their drummer's foil,

19:44

Robbie Robertson sons

19:46

Robbie. The band were missing one vital original

19:49

member, but no matter how tired or old

19:51

the rest of them felt, they were all together.

19:54

The Grateful Dead could say the same. It

19:57

was July, and

19:59

the men who were once young were now growing

20:01

older. But this silver lining

20:03

now had much more than just a touch of gray.

20:06

Jerry was still there, as was Bob

20:08

phil and Billy Mickey was there

20:10

too, having returned in nineteen seventy

20:13

five and remained in the lineup ever since, but

20:16

the door that led to the piano bench kept

20:18

revolving. First keyboardist

20:20

Keith gott Show left the band in nineteen

20:22

seventy nine, taking his wife Donna with him.

20:25

He died in a car crash. The next year. His

20:27

replacement, Brent Midland, overdosed

20:30

on a speedball in Bruce

20:32

Hornsby did a quick stint on the keys, but he

20:35

eventually left too, and the new man

20:37

at the keyboard was Vince well Nick. Jerry

20:40

looked over at Vince and all I could think about was

20:42

pig pan. The old memories blended

20:44

together into some cosmic day dream as they

20:46

became more distant. In the crowd of forty

20:49

thousand cheered behind Jerry,

20:51

the rest of the Dead We're kicking into Touch of Gray,

20:54

the highest charting song of the band's long and

20:56

storied career. The hair piled

20:58

on Jerry's head and his line a man of a beard,

21:00

shared much more than a touch. It was

21:02

snow white like some hippie Santa

21:05

Claus. Jerry's singing was

21:07

reserved, delicate and weak. The

21:09

Dead pressed through the opening tunes, still finding

21:11

their footing. This wasn't an

21:14

uncommon occurrence over the last handful of

21:16

years, decades of touring with

21:18

very little by the way of breaks, a whole bunch of

21:20

smoking, over eating, and one hell of a smack

21:22

habit had caught up to Jerry. He'd

21:24

been battling health issues since the beginning of the

21:26

tour. It didn't help that the heroine

21:28

he had once kicked had slowly worked its way back

21:31

into his life. The rest

21:33

of the group may have acted like they were in the dark when

21:35

it came to Jerry's health issues, but like

21:37

Pigpen before, in reality,

21:39

shock and denial kept them from comprehending

21:41

how bad it was. Getting. On top

21:44

of that, the entire tour it in a mess

21:46

and oversold venue in Vermont, dead

21:48

Head struck by lightning in Washington, d

21:50

C. A death threat called in on Jerry

21:53

and Indiana. Two fans died in

21:55

St. Louis and another hundred and eight were injured

21:57

when infrastructure collapsed at a nearby camping

21:59

air ran. But no matter how bad their

22:01

luck, the fans that lovingly called

22:03

themselves dead Heads continued to show up,

22:06

continued to contribute to the experience,

22:08

and continued to get the band energy to feed

22:10

off. Of thirty

22:13

years and thousands of concerts had

22:15

built the most loyal fan base in the music

22:17

industry, many of which regularly

22:19

attended one hundred plus shows. Going

22:22

to a Dead show was no longer just an experience.

22:25

It meant you were becoming part of a community,

22:27

and that community lifted the group up and gave

22:30

them power. Jerry Garcia fed

22:32

off of it. After a slow

22:34

start to the show, he began to gather strength,

22:37

using the music and the vibrations to push

22:39

through. Just like pig Pen. It pushed

22:41

through towards the end, and like pig

22:43

Pen, tactic produced moments

22:45

of brilliance for Jerry during the show, including

22:48

our heart wrenching rendition of so many

22:50

Roads for Jerry. Though

22:53

this would be the end of the road, The

22:56

Grateful Dead finished the final show of

22:58

that summer tour with

23:00

an encore of Box of Rain. They

23:03

left the stage, never to return in

23:05

the same form again. Such

23:07

a short time to be there, in such a long

23:10

long time to be gone. Jerry

23:12

had been heading for a crash for some time. He

23:15

had struggled through the tour, his energy seemed

23:17

exhausted. He checked himself into

23:19

betty Ford Rehabilitation and, thinking it had

23:21

successfully kicked the habit checked himself

23:23

out after two weeks, just in time

23:26

for the fifty third birthday. He

23:28

soon realized he hadn't quite completed the turnaround

23:30

and checked himself into yet another facility.

23:33

A few days later, a heart attack ended

23:35

his life. Jerry's

23:39

end also meant the end of the Dead, at

23:41

least the version of the band that didn't have John

23:43

Mayron. Like Pig,

23:45

Jerry had hung on for as long as he could. Like

23:48

Pig, Jerry battled through anything and everything

23:50

to remain with the group he loved. And

23:52

just like Pig, the end of the line came. No

23:54

matter what Jerry tried, the

23:57

pattern repeated itself, and this

23:59

time it left the Grateful Dead doubly

24:01

devastated. Both

24:03

Pig Pen and Jerry Garcia gone

24:05

meant the soul and the mind of the group had

24:08

returned to the cosmos. Bob,

24:10

Phil, Billy, and Mickey continued to play together

24:12

in various iterations, and they

24:14

played the songs that Jerry and Pig has sung,

24:17

the songs that they poured their hearts into every night,

24:19

the songs that we had used to commune with each other. They

24:22

would change given the mood of a certain member of the

24:24

group, that could provide levity, heartbreak,

24:26

and transcendence, but it would never

24:28

be quite the same. The dream

24:30

that had begun in Dana Morgan's music store all

24:32

those years ago, with the nine fingered warlock

24:35

and the skinny kid with the bombless energy, and

24:37

the rough and rowdy blues man clad in biker

24:39

gear with a heart of gold, had been fulfilled

24:42

many times over, with many triumphs

24:44

along the way, and it was now

24:46

just a memory. Jerry

24:48

Garcia would finally see what was waiting

24:50

on the other side. He would finally

24:52

be reunited with his friend and brother. Their

24:55

journey through time and space had come

24:58

full circle. The

25:24

walls were shaking inside the small

25:26

pizza parlor. The room was packed

25:28

with a college students, local heads, underage

25:31

kids looking for kicks, all seated

25:33

long tables. You're pushed up tight against the walls.

25:36

From the far corner, an electrifying

25:38

version of Holland Wolves, the Little Red Rooster

25:40

was blaring out over the crowd. Harmonica

25:43

solo rang out over the guitars and driving

25:45

drums. They buzzed with grace, authenticity,

25:49

and attitude, and the band

25:51

was so loose but so good.

25:53

They laughed at each other as they riffed out, verse

25:55

out to verse of chords. The harmonica player

25:58

danced on top of it all, and they were delirious,

26:00

beyond happy to turn up. It was

26:02

their third gig, ever, third gig, and

26:05

they had played the same venue a few nights before. The

26:07

nearly an empty room. The second night

26:09

crowd is a little thicker, but now the

26:11

place was filled to the brim. In fact,

26:14

there were even kids dancing outside, and

26:17

the validation felt good, not that

26:19

it mattered. The music was the real trip.

26:22

As the song came to an end, the crowd

26:24

hollered, and the harmonica players sluck

26:26

down the remainder of the beer and stepped to the microphone.

26:29

He grinned out of the faces that surrounded him,

26:32

and then he declared to each and every one of them that

26:34

he was not just another person. He was,

26:36

in fact, a king being. The

26:40

band kicked in with some old slim harpo,

26:43

again hard driving blues music.

26:45

The harmonica player turned front man started

26:47

around while laying down a slurred, soulful

26:50

delivery. His raw vocal matched

26:52

its unkempt appearance. The whole

26:54

thing was rough around the edges and there was no putting

26:56

on airs. The crowd of magoose

26:58

pizza couldn't help, but they

27:00

were entranced by the kid in the leather vest with the jet

27:03

black hair, half drunk, completely

27:05

lost in the music. It was magnetic.

27:09

Just a few years later, the Grateful Dead

27:11

would become one of the most well known groups in the

27:13

world, and pig Pen would no longer

27:15

be crooning slim harpow covers to a dimly

27:18

lit, greasy pizza giant. He would

27:20

sing to the masses at hockey arenas, auditoriums,

27:23

and outdoor festivals down

27:26

each and every road pig Pen travel. However,

27:28

he would remain true to his original dream of

27:30

playing the blues for a living. He'd empty

27:32

a bottle each and every day until it endangered

27:34

his life. He'd create music that could touch

27:37

the deepest emotional strings of the human heart.

27:39

He endeared himself to each and every person

27:41

he had met, and even through the phases

27:43

of pop, psychedelia, Americana,

27:46

jazz, and a host of other musical genre pretzels

27:48

that Dead would twist themselves into, pig

27:50

Pen never lost the plot. He never

27:52

lost the original inspiration and energy

27:54

that he had helped cultivate from the Dusty Powell

27:57

Auto to a mind altering San Francisco,

28:00

all around the United States, to Europe

28:02

and beyond, pig pens raw

28:04

energy was always there, in

28:06

person or in spirit. No matter

28:08

what direction the band went in, he remained

28:11

steadfast and loyal to the idea of the

28:13

Dead playing music together. A cold

28:15

beer, hot mic, and the sweet,

28:17

beautiful music he made with the boys would

28:19

be all pig Ever wanted. It was

28:22

the only way you knew how to live his life, and he'd

28:24

follow that inclination with zeal, passion,

28:26

and authenticity until the wheels came off,

28:29

and the wheels did come off eight

28:32

years after that night at Magoose, pig

28:34

Pen would be gone forever.

28:37

The band continued to push forward in the same

28:40

manner, with the same singular focus to

28:42

the music. They lost more brothers

28:44

in arms, but they never lost that original

28:46

fire. The one picks someone in the pizza

28:48

giant in Paul Alto, the same

28:50

one picks someone the club stadiums,

28:52

in the recording studio. The Dead's

28:55

music would always reflect pigs calm demeanor,

28:57

blowing in like an easy wind, the warm summer

28:59

breezes, the kaleidoscope of brilliant

29:01

colors and soft Pastel's Pig's

29:05

music felt comfortable and familiar, like

29:07

sitting on a barstool next to an old friend.

29:10

Pig Pen was everybody's old friend, and

29:12

he was gone too soon. The

29:14

life as he lived would continue to color

29:16

the thoughts, minds, and music of Lozy held

29:18

close forever as the stone

29:20

above his resting place at the Alta Mason Memorial

29:23

Park of Paulato reads, pig

29:25

Pen was and is now forever

29:28

one of the grateful Dead. I'm

29:31

Jake Brennan and this is

29:34

the twenty seven Club. The

29:48

Club is hosted and produced by me Jake

29:50

Brennan for Double Elvis in partnership

29:52

with I Heart Radio. Zeth

29:54

Lundie is the lead writer and co producer.

29:57

This episode was mixed by Joel Edinburgh.

30:00

Additional music and score elements by

30:02

Ryan Spraaker and Henry Luneta. This

30:04

episode was written by Ted Oma, story

30:07

and copy ending by Pat Healy. Sources

30:10

for this episode are available at Double

30:12

Elvis dot com on the twenty seven Club

30:14

series page, talk to me on Social

30:16

act disgrace Land pod, and hang out with me

30:19

live on my Twitch channel disgrace Land

30:21

Talks. For more news on your favorite

30:23

podcast, follow at Double Elvis on Instagram

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rocar ROLLA, what

30:31

up here is