From: gt0021c@prism.gatech.EDU (Chris Edward Perkins)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead
Subject: Dead citing
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:27:51 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

This article appeared in this morning's Atlanta Constitution.  Reprinted
without permission, of course.

Dead Wants new flavor: A low-fat Jerry Garcia [cute title, I thought]

The Grateful Dead won't tour again until 1993, but fans will see a wonder - a
"lean and mean" Jerry Garcia - when the longtime rockers return to The Omni 
in the spring.

"Jerry's medical problems - a lung condition and an enlarged heart - are all 
reversible," says Dennis McNally, the band's publicist/historian.  "He was
overweight, over-smoking, over-stressed and under-exercised, but all of that
is changing."

Mr. Garcia turned 50 on August 1.

Fortunately his condition was recognized earlier this month before any       
potential heart attack occurred.  Unfortunately, that meant the cancellation
of 23 late-summer and early-fall shows - including East Coast dates for
which about 130,000 tickets had been sold.  The Dead, one of the most 
successful touring acts of any recent year, had done 40 shows this year for
more than 1 million fans.

Mr. McNally says the Dead organization, which sells about half its concert
tickets by mail, is "cautiously optimistic" that Mr. Garcia's continued
improvement will permit the San Francisco-based band to play some traditional
December gigs in the Bay Area.  "Jerry's really taking better care of himself,"
Mr. McNally saya.  "He's watching his diet - he's gone from portly to rotund -
and exercising and he's no longer smoking three packs of cigarettes a day."



And while I'm at it:

Bill Graham Speaks Again   
Atlanta Constitution, 8/28

One of rock n roll's most approachable and enjoyable legends will be heard from 

again on October 25 when Doubleday publishes "Bill Graham Presents" ($24).  Mr.
Graham, who died in a helicopter crash last October, and co-author Robert
Greenfield spare no one over the course of 556 tell-all pages.  Interesting 
incidents include:

-The Grateful Dead slipping acid into Mr. Graham's soft drink and then luring 
 him onstage to play gong and cowbell for them.  "He was smiling and just
whacking that gong and foaming at the mouth," drummer Mickey Hart recalls.
Mr. Graham: "i was fully aware that I was onstage and that I didn't belong, but
I didn't give a [bleep]."

-Mr. Graham's bad experiences with Led Zeppelin, which included viloent
incidents and a sudden pre-concert demand from the band for $25,000 in cash to
buy drugs, and how he personally delivered a shopping bag full of bills. 
"When I think back to that whole incident, I think about that dealer sitting
in that hotel room in a cowboy hat waiting for his 25 grand."

-The decision by the Rolling Stones to end a long-term relationship with
Mr. Graham as their promoter for their Steel Wheels tour and Mick Jagger's
explanation: "I'm only doing this tour for one reason: The MONEY."


[typos are mine.  errors in fact are theirs]


-- 
Chris Perkins, Georgia Institute of Technology, MSM 1993 (?)
uucp: who cares?         Internet: gt0021c@prism.gatech.edu
'I was blind all the time I was learning to see'
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead