The Bobby Weir Paradox
Note to readers: In honor of the of the passing of the one-of-a-kind Bobby Weir I'm bringing this blog post from 2018 forward. MB So I'm driving around listening to a Grateful Dead bootleg casette of a 1975 San Francisco show that some guy gave me 35 years ago and I'm trying to work out the Bobby Weir Paradox in my mind. The problem is this: Is it possible that Bobby sort of sucks a lot of the time -- you know, with harmony vocals that feature an "uncertain" relation to pitch; soulful shouting that degenerates into bellowing -- but that he nevertheless is the most important guy in the band? There's a reason they position him in the center of the stage. He's the guy that stirs things up, especially with his artful, asymmetrical comping during group improvisations. He makes them go. At any rate, just as I'm thinking these great thoughts, I spot this car on a side street in Cambridge, festooned with Deadhead and other stickers, including "Bobby fa...
