Should The Dead End? August 15, 1995 - San Francisco Examiner by Cary Tennis Band cancels fall tour, future in doubt THE GRATEFUL DEAD will cancel the rest of their current fall tour in the wake of founder Jerry Garcia's death, band members have announced. The decision was reached at a meeting of band members Monday. The band will cancel shows scheduled for Sept. 13 to Oct. 22 in Mountain View; Glen Helen, San Bernardino County; Boston; New York; Philadelphia; and Toronto. According to Grateful Dead spokesman Dennis McNally, the announcement does not imply that the band is disbanding. "This is the only decision that's been reached so far," said McNally. Meetings are expected to continue all week. For news about ticket refunds, fans were asked to wait until Aug. 21, then call Dead hot lines at (415) 457-6388 or (201) 744-7700. Still, the decision to call off the tour does add fuel to the ongoing discussion about the future of the band. The voices of fans can be heard in all media - from the chat lines of America Online to the portable toilet lines of the Polo Field memorial last Sunday - asking, "Can the band go on?" Many answer, "No." "It simply can't go on without Jerry," said one fan on America Online. "It's over. Finis," said another. A third added, "If it does go on, it won't be the same. Not ever." While some fans feel that the Dead have reached a dead end, informed sources differ. David Gans, author of the books "Playing in the Band (a musical portrait of the Dead)" and "Conversations With the Dead," says, "To suggest that Jerry was the be-all and end-all of the Dead is to miss the point massively. It was a collective musical thing. "Jerry was always the most outgoing player and the most reliable source of melodic ideas and inspiration. But he was by no means the only driving force, and to suggest that they cannot go on without him is to do the spirit of the Dead a tremendous disservice." Longtime Dead fan Linda Jacobson put it this way: "Who's to tell those other musicians they have to stop performing just because one of their colleagues died? I wonder how I would have felt if I'd been around when Pigpen died (in 1973), because people regarded him as the leader and centerpiece!" "With all due respect to fans," says McNally, "I would say that that's the members of the Grateful Dead's decision." For years the Grateful Dead's shows have provided not just musical entertainment but a social network; the loss of that is what many fans fear. "I've got a big circle of friends that I only see at Dead shows," said Jacobson. "That's why everybody is hurting right now; not only for the loss of Jerry but for the loss of a social structure." Between the music and the lifestyle embodied in the social gatherings, where would these people turn if the Dead stopped playing? Several bands may take up the slack in Dead fans' schedules: Blues Traveler and Phish are among the two best known. "They will definitely attract the Dead's audience," says Blair Jackson, executive editor of Mix Magazine and a longtime fan and chronicler of the Dead. "Phish is already selling out Madison Square Garden. They're a band that can really play, and they have enough of that serious, sophisticated jamming element that appeals to Dead fans." Other bands in a genre that has come to be known as hippie funk or, in the words of David Crosby, "electronic Dixieland," are the Dave Matthews Band and the Spin Doctors. And bands like Wilco and Mother Hips are sure to draw Dead fans, as will the odd assortment of past collaborators such as David Grisman, Merle Saunders, Branford Marsalis and perhaps even the Gyuto Monks and other collaborators in drummer Mickey Hart's multicultural percussion excursions. Shows by members of the Dead - in the form of their spin-off bands - are also sure to be high on the list. Grammy award-winning bassist Rob Wasserman and Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir have been touring, performing and recording together for several years and will perform as the Ratdog Revue with Vince Welnick, Prairie Prince, Matthew Kelly and special guests, at the Fillmore Auditorium Sept. 1 and 2. The collaborative history includes a trio with Neil Young called "Easy Answers," on Wasserman's most recent MCA album, "Trios," on which Garcia also joined Wasserman and singer Edie Brickell to form a trio on two other songs. And, to keep alive the spirit of the Dead community, look to the upcoming Horde Tour, an extravaganza at Shoreline Amphitheater on Sept. 3 produced by Bill Graham Presents. The show will include not only Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal, Blues Traveler, the Black Crowes, Jono Manson, Joan Osborne, Mother Hips and Wilco - on two stages - but a festival atmosphere with many booths offering unusual crafts and treats of every description from Jamaican food to hemp clothing, as well as information booths manned by such organizations as the ACLU and leading environmental groups. And fans can catch David Gans' Dead-inspired band, the Reptiles, Friday night at San Francisco's Boat House at 1 Harding Blvd. on Lake Merced, and Saturday night at the Brookdale Lodge, 11570 Highway 9, Brookdale, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can be sure they'll do a few chestnuts from the Dead mixed in with their own improvisational tunes.