Bobby Weir public memorial happening this weekend in San Francisco
Published in Entertainment News
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Deadheads from around the Bay Area — and, in all likelihood, well beyond — will gather this weekend in honor of the life and music of Bobby Weir in San Francisco.
The free public memorial for the Grateful Dead co-founder — “whose music, spirit and humanity shaped generations,” according to a post about the event on the artist’s Facebook page — is set for 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Civic Center Plaza.
Weir, a San Francisco native who long called Marin County home, died on Jan. 10 after battling cancer and finally succumbing to lung complications. He was 78.
“Together, we will pay tribute in the community and collective heartbeat that he created,” the post reads. “A short sacred stop on his homecoming journey, the gathering will center on gratitude, remembrance, and togetherness, along with special tributes to honor Bobby.”
Organizers are being clear that this memorial, which is being called “Homecoming: Celebrating the life of Bobby Weir,” is not a concert and “there will be no live musical performances.”
The occasion will include a procession, which will travel three blocks down Market Street, between 7th and 9th streets, which begins at 12:30 p.m.
Attendees are being asked to enter into Civic Center through Fulton Plaza and to also RSVP at https://bit.ly/CelebratingTheLifeOfBobbyWeirRSVP.
Weir co-founded the Grateful Dead in 1965 in Palo Alto, although the group — which consisted of vocalist-guitarist Jerry Garcia, vocalist-guitarist Bob Weir, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, vocalist-keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and bassist Phil Lesh during its formative days — was originally known as the Warlocks.
The band played its first gig (under the name the Warlocks) at the old Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park on May 5, 1965.
The group then performed its inaugural gig under the Grateful Dead moniker on Dec. 4, 1965, in San Jose. The gig took place at a 19th-century Victorian house on a downtown lot that is now home to San Jose’s City Hall. It also doubled as the first real public “Acid Test,” a series of parties hosted by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” author Ken Kesey and his famed Merry Pranksters that were centered on the collective use of the psychedelic drug LSD.
That historic music/countercultural event was memorialized by city officials on Dec. 4 of last year — 60 years to the day after that first Grateful Dead concert took place — when a plaque celebrating the connection between the Bay Area’s most populous city and the most-famous jam band of all time was unveiled at San Jose’s City Hall.
The Grateful Dead kept right on “Truckin'” for some 30 years, building the most famously devoted fan base in rock history mainly through constant touring and a commitment to changing up the setlist on a nightly basis — so that no two Dead shows were the same.
The Grateful Dead ended with Garcia’s death in 1995, but the music — and, most certainly, Weir — keep right on going. Weir and his bandmates continued to mine the ample songbook through a series of offshoots, including the Other Ones, the Dead, Furthur and, most recently, Dead & Company, which paired Weir and drummer Mickey Hart with pop-rock guitarist John Mayer. Weir also fronted a number of other projects — like RatDog — over the decades.
Weir made his final concert appearances with Dead & Company during a three-night celebration of the Dead’s 60th anniversary at Golden Gate Park in August.
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