Eternal Music

Listening for the Secret, Searching for the Sound - Adieu Phil Lesh!

Darkstarathon

Philip Chapman Lesh has merged with eternity as will be we all.

In this clip, he does what he did so well, bringing together exceptional musicians to pay tribute to the muse that moved his band, the Grateful Dead:

Eighty four and a half years and a few clicks more is a long life and Phil’s was extended. by having received the gift of a second liver from a young man named Cody. Phil would give a donor’s pitch at every show - and how many there were for us after his successful transplant! How many of us, his fans, are committed organ donors? How many lives were saved because of his gratitude - and his intuition when Jerry found “The Grateful Dead” as a possible band name that that name was IT!

What is “IT” anyway? Well, we don’t define “IT” really - we just know “IT” when it shows up and we’re receptive to “IT” - and that was something that Phil could do. He could receive and he could transmit….and with that ability, he, as much as anyone I have ever heard of, transformed the lives and showered us in joy. I was moved to do what I can with what I have because of his example, perhaps as much or more than any other single member of that band - and maybe as much or more than most of humanity. His commitment to his family after marrying Jill Lesh in 1984, the year I hitchhiked from Ashland, Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina to see the band play for the first time, was inspiring. Having a birthday party for one of his sons, he had hired someone to play Barney, the purple dinosaur, and without telling Jerry, had Barney “playing” bass in his stead on stage.

Kindness is a watch-word among the Deadheads - and I can say that the generosity with the gift of music that Philip Chapman Lesh demonstrated over the course of his long career is nothing short of a loadstone for us as we move from “I” to “Otherwise.”