Jerry's last Sophie's gig... "Late in 1976 I went down to what once was Sophie's in Palo Alto- I rode my bike down to Palo Alto and had all day to hang around & be miserable waiting around, so I happened to be there when the truck rolled up, and Parrish and Kidd began loading in the amps & stuff. I got into a discussion (for lack of anything real to discuss?) with Steve, about the "fact" the roadies had had to become members of the Stagehands Union- oops, wrong thing to say: "Don't talk to me about Union Guys!" he sneered. So I asked who was drumming, and it was Ron Tutt, who I thought was probably the best match of any of the Garcia Band drummers. Anyway I wheeled my bike in and locked it in the back hall, as I had always done when the place was Sophie's and which they never gave me any crap about. Done with that, I was there in the hall, and Donna walked through & Steve introduces me- "This guy's been here all day!" Having the chance I got to talk with her for about half an hour over a margarita, with Richard Loren at the table with us, about my own musical ambitions, and all. When that time was up she excused herself and went backstage and the band came out, played and I had a wonderful time singing half-drunkenly along from the side of the stage, up in the front of the floor. And I had something of a harmonic resonance thing happening with Keith also- it was just one of those things. Anyway, when the gig was over, I am unlocking my bike in the hall and who walks through but Garcia, just as the Keystone security guy is trying to give me a hard time about leaving my bike there "is that your bike?" "Well, it had BETTER be!" As Jerry passes, about all I could manage was a "howsit going?" and he gives me a great beaming smile, reaches out and shakes my hand with an enthusiastic "ALL-RIGHT!" I got the bike unlocked and I'm wheeling it out after him into the parking lot, and there with their lights revolving eerily into the night are five Palo Alto cop cars. "Aw shit, man, THERE THEY ARE!", he said. It was at this point I seriously had to reconsider the halfhearted idea I had had of Jerry being my 'hero", after all, if this guy is as afraid of the cops as any of us on the street are, and he can't just make them disappear with a wave of his all-powerful hands, maybe it'd be better thinking of him as "friend" instead of "hero?" He heads over to his Corvair and gives me a "Well, see ya!" as he gets in and we go our separate ways into the insecure night time of Palo Alto under the gaze of the policia...I also noticed that this was the first time it had ever happened, meeting anyone, he seemed to absolutely RADIATE music from his being, as though it was a palpable part of his aura. "You could see the notes flying out of his head if you ran into him in the hall", said Hank Harrison once. Well, that was exactly the experience. I have had it only one other time (meeting Jorma's friend Tom Hobson) - I think there are folks in this life who really DO have such a gift of music that it really IS the essence of their being, and Jerry really was one of those special people." - Immaculately Gone