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underpants

(189,237 posts)
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 04:01 PM Oct 2024

Phil Lesh, Bassist for the Grateful Dead, Dies at 84

Bassist Phil Lesh, whose dense, inventive playing powered the Grateful Dead and, following the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, many of the San Francisco band’s touring reincarnations, died Friday. He was 84.

The news was posted on his official Instagram page with the message “Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, passed peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love. We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time.”

As a writer, he co-authored a number of compositions – “St. Stephen,” “The Eleven” and the epic “Dark Star” – which became long-form, jam-oriented fixtures of the Dead’s concert repertoire that were much beloved by legions of bootlegging fans. In 1968-70, he was aided and abetted in the band by keyboardist Tom Constanten, his like-minded former roommate at Oakland’s Mills College.

https://variety.com/2024/music/news/phil-lesh-dies-grateful-dead-1236191200/

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Phil Lesh, Bassist for the Grateful Dead, Dies at 84 (Original Post) underpants Oct 2024 OP
OH FUCK NO!!!! LuckyCharms Oct 2024 #1
❤️ underpants Oct 2024 #2
Goddamit, I'm sobbing like a baby. LuckyCharms Oct 2024 #3
I hope your brother is OK. Most people cannot understand the significance... LuckyCharms Oct 2024 #4
84 years old--the last 26 of them courtesy of an organ donor fishwax Oct 2024 #5
That's a truly beautiful song underpants Oct 2024 #7
Only love can Phil darkstar Oct 2024 #6

LuckyCharms

(19,735 posts)
3. Goddamit, I'm sobbing like a baby.
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 04:17 PM
Oct 2024

I love him so much, and he has inspired my life in ways I can't explain. This one hurts bad.

LuckyCharms

(19,735 posts)
4. I hope your brother is OK. Most people cannot understand the significance...
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 05:12 PM
Oct 2024

that the people in that band had to MILLIONS of people.

fishwax

(29,331 posts)
5. 84 years old--the last 26 of them courtesy of an organ donor
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 05:24 PM
Oct 2024

This news makes me sad, but my goodness what a great gift to the world this guy brought with his music.

My favorite song to think about when I'm thinking about death and the precious nature of life is "Box of Rain," a song Phil wrote with Robert Hunter as a kind of parting gift to his father, convalescing in a nursing home, terminally ill with cancer. I'll definitely be spinning that tonight: "And it's just a box of rain / I don't know who put it there / believe it if you need it / or leave it if you dare / and it's just a box of rain / or some ribbon for your hair / such a long long time to be gone / and a short time to be there."

So I thank you Phil, and I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.


underpants

(189,237 posts)
7. That's a truly beautiful song
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 09:13 PM
Oct 2024

I’m didn’t know the back story.

Friend of the Devil is one of my all time sings. Phil marked the song with the bass.

darkstar

(5,660 posts)
6. Only love can Phil
Fri Oct 25, 2024, 05:57 PM
Oct 2024

A said day for me and most certainly 100s of thousand others. Fare The Well.

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