Garcia: A Signpost To New Space

I've read a lot of interviews done with Jerry by many different types of people, but this book contains the one that left me feeling like I'd actually had a conversation with him. We catch Garcia in 1972 here. Pigpen is still alive, Mickey Hart has just left the band, and Jerry's addiction to smoking heroin is still five years away. The adventure of his life is still unfolding, and he seems happy, content, at rest. Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Adams is his companion, and they have a beautiful house bought with the fruits of his musical skills. They are living legends. So it's easy to see why Charles Reich tweaks out during the longer part of the book, the "Stoned Sunday Rap." Staying true to the title, it's a conversation between three stoned members of the counterculture, discussing a wide variety of spiritual, psychological and intellectual concepts. It's not the focused discussion centering on Jerry and the Dead you get at the beginning of the book. It's the conversation that every Deadhead wishes they'd had the chance to have with Jerry. At times Reich's questions, lines of thought and quest for validation from Garcia and Adams become extremely painful and embarrassing to read, but it's fair to assume that most Deadheads would fare little better stoned in the presence of '72 Jerry and Mountain Girl than Reich does. Of course this really doesn't excuse the periods of the conversation where he doesn't let Jerry or Mountain Girl get a word in edgewise. But maybe this is why you get a sense of Jerry's character, depth and compassion that you don't get in other interviews. In the parlance of the times, it's a far out conversation that every Deadhead should experience.

I've just finished reading this book for the first time, and as I was nearing the end I started thinking I'd like to come back to this again and again to be reminded of the spirit of those times, and the way to live into the future, and so this truely is a signpost to new space. The Rolling Stone interview is good, real good, but the stoned sunday rap is magic. Charles Reich (visiting Yale law professor and early new age intellectual) opens up, exploring his own journey, like a large innocent child, and Garcia and Mountain Girl stay right with him providing just the right balance, a remarkable and true mix of wisdom and compassion. Many times I laughed out loud, a few times I repeated lines out loud (to help to put myself there?), many times I felt like the two stoned guys, shaking my head and murmuring "right, right, yeah right" to the deep insights. I guess it got me stoned. In the RS interview I learned alot of the Dead's evolution and trip to that point ('71). In the rap I was right in there and intimate with Jerry's life. Like Reich says this is a book to change and guide one's life (you can see it happening to him during the visit). It is fun and tender and silly and profound, really and truely profound. And timeless.

If you're already a fan of Jerry Garcia, this book is quite rewarding, entertaining & even enlightening. The interview really helps you "get to know" Jerry, where many of his motivations root & bloom--- The "stoned Sunday rap" should bring a smile to many faces... you can CLEARLY read that these people are STONED... and some of the subjects they talk about are indeed enlightening. The interview took place around 1972, when all of Jerry's powers were extremely strong and energetic...before any "touch of grey" kicked in. This book is no fluff entertainment piece of crap, but really has substance.

Entertaining and enlightning book.The first part is mainly straitforward question and answer. The "stoned Sunday rap" is the heart and soul of the book. You feel as if your hanging out with Jerry, Mt. Girl and Charles Reich. Not really an interview but rather a group of people having a "stoned conversation". Some really interesting stuffCharles seems to have dropped all his inhibitions since the first interview and really opens up to Jerry it sometimes seems as though Jerry's interviewing Reich.The first interview has been Published in the book "Garcia by the editors of Rolling Stone", but the "stoned Sunday rap" makes this a must buy for any fan.

Wow! Someone finally reissued this excellent book. First published by Straight Arrow Publishers, I bought my copy new back in '72 and read it often. It is a great interview with Garcia at a time when the Dead were just taking off. Garcia reveals he "has just made the commitment" to see where the music takes him, and as we all know, the band really went places. Hopefully, the current publishers have reissued it in its original form.The second part of the book, "A Stoned Sunday Rap," is a great piece that really gets to the heart and soul of the Dead experience, beyond the music. I've always admired the philosophy behind the music for its zen-like approach to life and living; Garcia and Reich tease out the details.A must-read for anyone who enjoys the Dead. Much better than any of the tell-alls that have been published recently.