From: tnf@well.sf.ca.us (David Gans)
Subject: Bob Weir interview on KPFA 8/12/92
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 19:09:57 GMT


BOB WEIR interview on KPFA 8/12/92 by David Gans


Q:  What can you tell us about what's going on?

Weir:  Jerry's been pushing himself way the hell too hard, and it caught up
with him, and he's going to be down for a little bit....  We don't know how
long.
       I saw him today, and [laughs] he looked better than the last time I saw
him.  It's wonders what a tan'll do for you.  He's takin' it easy, and he
reckons he probably should be doing that.  He has a bunch of doctors telling
him that.

Q:  And so far as we know, the fall tour is still going to commence on
September 9 as scheduled?

Weir:  I'd give it a 50/50.  I don't know.  It has not yet been canceled.
We're looking at various options, like for instance canceling the first few
dates - or the whole thing, if the doctors don't like the way it looks.  But
you know, he's bounced back before, and he bounces back quick.

Q:  Is he seeing doctors, then?

Weir:  Yeah.

Q:  This is a guy who's pretty pathological about not liking to be in the
hospital -

Weir:  Well, he won't go in the hospital, so we're bringing the doctors out to
see him.

Q:  How are you feeling about all this?

Weir:  Well, I could use some time off, too.

Q:  What are you going to do?

Weir:   Write, hopefully.  I haven't had time to write for a long time.

Q:  Are you still planning to do an album with Rob Wasserman?

Weir:  Yes.

Q:  And do you have any idea when you're going to start doing that?

Weir:  When we get damn well ready!  My guess is next winter.

Q:  And Don Was is going to produce it?

Weir:  He's interested in doing that, yeah.

Q:  Want to talk about politics for a second?

Weir:  Why not?

Q:  A couple of months ago you had an op-ed piece in the New York Times about
a bill that was going through from the two senators from Montana.  Can you
give us some background on that and let us know us what's happening with it
now?

Weir:  When it was introduced it was called the Montana National Forest
Wilderness Management Act, and it was anything but that.  It was the
Wilderness MISmanagement Act, and it was just basically a wholesale timber
giveaway - our National Forest to timber companies.  We would subsidize the
building of roads into wilderness areas so they could cut down all the trees
and take them away and make them into deserts.
       I've been [to these places], and it's gorgeous. These are
thousand-year-old forests and whatnot; the trees are old, beautiful, tall,
magnificent - and they really want them.  The loggers really want them.  They
belong to us!
       The bill would have us pay for the destruction and removal, and I don't
think it's something that we want to do, and so I've been opposing this.  And
it looks like it's not going to get through Congress altogether intact like it
originally looked like it would.

Q:  Are you one of those people that believes it's a good idea to register and
vote?

Weir:  I think this year particularly!  I always register and I always vote. I
don't know if it's a knee-jerk reaction or what, but this year I feel like
there's something to vote for.  We had an election kind of similar to this one
in 1932, when Hoover wanted to get re-elected.  Hoover was doing basically
about the same thing that our administration is doing, that being pursuing
right-wing politics, and the rich were getting richer and the poor were
getting poorer.  That escalated into a depression much like we're having now.
And he wanted to hang in there, but he got real unpopular 'cause people were
starting to get kind of upset with the way things were going, and they voted
him out of office and we got an administration voted in that turned things
around for us.  And it looks like we could do that again.
       Loath would I be to tell people _how_ to vote, but I would tell people
to vote.  Vote your heart, vote your conscience.  Don't vote your wallet.
That's my opinion, but you've got to vote.  It's an American's blessed duty.
And to vote, you've got to register, so do it today.

Q:  Well, thanks for calling in, Bob.  I'm sure you know that all the prayers
and good wishes of the thousands and thousands of Deadheads around here are
with you and with Jerry and with the band.

Weir:  He's gonna be just fine.  It's just a matter of how soon.  I think when
he comes around, everyone's going to like what they see.

Q:  Is it really true that we're not going to get to see you guys [in the Bay
Area] til the end of the year now?

Weir:  We'll see.


-- 

	David Gans	tnf@well.sf.ca.us
			{apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax}!well!tnf

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