#dead relix

WAY BACK TO THE "MUSIC FOR THE MIND" YEARS -- THE MAGAZINE FOR DEADHEADS.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on assorted covers of February issues of "Relix," a.k.a. "Dead Relix" magazine, featuring members of quintessential American rock band, the GRATEFUL DEAD. Members include, from top to bottom:

Bob Weir (February, 1979)

Phil Lesh (February, 1986)

Mickey Hart (February, 1995)

Jerry Garcia & Pigpen McKernan (February, 1983)

IN PRAISE & REMEMBRANCE OF AN AMERICAN MASTER/LEGEND -- PIGPEN.

PIC INFO: Part 2 of 2 -- Spotlight on a portrait of now dearly departed GRATEFUL DEAD members, Jerry Garcia and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, photographed by Thomas Weir in 1969 -- Cover page to "Relix" magazine Vol. 10 #1. February, 1983.

EXTRA INFO: Portrait from the Dead's "Aoxomoxoa" period, now inarguably described as the last gasp of the band's experimental and/or psychedelic period.

JERRY GARCIA: "Pigpen was the only guy in the band who had any talent when we were starting out. He was genuinely talented. He also had no discipline, but he had reams of talent. And he had that magical thing of being able to make stuff up as he went along. He also had great stage presence. The ironic thing was that he hated it - it really meant nothing to him; it wasn't what he liked. We had to browbeat him into being a performer. His best performances were one-on-one, sitting in a room with an acoustic guitar. That's where he was really at home and at his best. "Out in front of the crowd he could work the band, and he'd really get the audience going. He always had more nerve than I could believe. He'd get the audience on his side, and he'd pick somebody out (like a heckler) and get on them... He was the guy who really sold the band, not me or Weir. Pigpen is what made the band work."