The last music performed by the entire band is a medley of Black Muddy River and Box of Rain.. And Mr. Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died at 27 . Tragically, Keith Godchaux was a passenger in an automobile accident on July 21, 1980 forty years ago today and died two days later. On this date in 1980, former keyboardist Keith Godchaux tragically died in a car accident just days after his 32nd birthday. These songs received fairly steady airtimefollowing their releases, according to Billboard, but there was about a 15-year gap from 1972 to 1987 when the Dead's music was largely ignored on the dials. The Grateful Dead's music has often been described as "mellow," but front man Jerry Garcia's earlier years were the exact opposite. The Grateful Dead has even spawned Funko dolls, onesies, and "Cherry Garcia" Ben & Jerry's ice cream tribute to the band's late, great frontman Jerry Garcia that's become one of its most popular flavors. She remarried again to her present husband David McKay in 1980. MARTINEZ, Calif. A lethal mixture of morphine and cocaine commonly known as a "speedball" killed Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, a coroner reported Friday. His wife recommended him as a keyboardist for the group around the time their first keyboardist was in the hospital. Send us your name and address, and well keep you informed. And Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died at 27 in 1973. (Not only that, it would mean they lost no time in taping rehearsals with the new guy, in fact starting immediately. Donna Godchaux married her first husband and fellow Grateful Dead member Keith Godchaux in 1970. After Godchaux's departure from the Grateful Dead, he cleaned up and formed The Heart of Gold Band with his wife; the ensemble included a young Steve Kimock on guitar. One wonders, though. Mydland proved to be an asset throughout the '80s, and not just for his skills on the keys. See more ideas about keith godchaux, grateful dead, greatful dead. 81 comments 498 Posted by 2 days ago Miss Ya Brent! He remained that way until he died of cardiac arrest in 2013. They managed to get back $63,000 of the lost cash, and Hart died of natural causes in 1975. The couple's work helped to fundamentally shape the sound of the band during what many . Its also a curious detail that Keith initially got with the Dead to work out some tunes. This is frustratingly vague it may mean nothing; or it may mean that the initial intention was not to actually join the Dead. Their devoted legions of "Deadhead" fans kept them on the road for decades, and countless T-shirts, stickers, posters, and other ephemera made the band widely successful from a financial standpoint. (Note that on some tracks Keith can hardly be heard, being too low in the mix.) Oct. 24: Grateful Dead: The Deads seventh album, known as Skull and Roses, includes a callout to Dead Heads. The albums sleeve included a message to fans: Dead Freaks Unite: Who are you? The interesting thing is that when he saw the Dead, he thought they needed more energy: When Id heard them play a couple of times, they really got me off; I was really high. July 19 Horoscope More Rock Singers Arnel Pineda Jon Bon Jovi David Byrne Robert Smith He died on 23rd July 1980,at 32 years of age. Lots of shots of spectators, fans and Deadheads, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead at the Warfield Theatre As for his nickname, which was inspired by the messyPeanuts character, it was due to his "funky approach to life and sanitation," according to Ultimate Classic Rock. The Dead managed to get through five tracks before their amps overloaded during "Turn on Your Love Light" and they finally called it quits for the night. John Kahn remembered, One night there were a lot of people out there, and Howard realized that thats not what he wanted to do, and he stopped doing it. Garcia also said, Howard went offperiodically he gets this thing of where he just cant deal with the music world any more, and he just disappears., Of course there were plenty of other keyboard players around San Francisco who might have auditioned. Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicles pop music critic. January: Garcia neckties: In addition to slinging a guitar, Garcia, who briefly studied at San Francisco Art Institute, painted abstract works of art. After playing an upright piano and increasingly sporadic Hammond organ on the fall 1971 tour, Godchaux primarily played acoustic grand piano (including nine-foot Yamaha and Steinway instruments) at concerts from 1972 to 1974. Learn our music. The irony was that Donna Jean doubts mightily Keith ever bothered to listen to them hed never listened to the Dead all that much before he auditioned In any case, he left the tapes on his parents houseboat in Alameda, and there they stayed. The Lionel Hampton Band. http://archive.org/details/gd1971-09-29.unsurpassed-masters-vol4-vol6.116951.flac16 bootleg comp; different mixes, sometimes very trebley, but Keith comes out more (for instance Brokedown #2, where he takes over). The Grateful Dead did a fine set with some marvelously exciting and interesting guitar solos by Jerry Garcia and a great demonstration of their tightness and swing, Gleason wrote. 15. Keyboardist Keith Godchaux joined the band with his wife, singer Donna Jean Godchaux, in late 1971 following a fortuitous encounter with Garcia at San Francisco's Keystone Club. That whole day, Keith never put a foot (or a finger) wrong. Tweet. After the band splits up, the band members form several (sometimes overlapping) side projects, including RatDog, Bobby and the Midnites, the Other Ones, the Dead, Furthur, Dark Star Orchestra, Rhythm Devils, Missing Man Formation, Move Me Brightly and others. I never had the pleasure of meeting him -although I came very close to it- met his wife, and had many occasions to be in close proximity during concerts by both the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band. The hardships of the never-ending grueling tour and travel schedule (that had always been for The Dead) had taken its toll on Keith and his wife Donna Jean Godchaux, a talented Muscle Sholes-alum vocalist. McNally has but a few details to add: I want to play it. And it was like, Yeahhh! It was also one beset by a series of unfortunate incidents, controversies, and the tragic deaths of several of its key members. Or, if Donnas memory is right, possibly Sunday the 26th was the first day Keith played with Jerry. This is a carousel. The neckwear, nonetheless, became popular with the 9-to-5 set. This destructive trio began to get the better of him in the mid-'80s. We said to Pete & Carol, Hey guys, were going to play with the Grateful Dead! And we really believed it. July 26: Mydland overdoses: Mydland dies of a drug overdose in Lafayette at age 37. It made it as far as No. As noted on Woodstock Story, a website devoted to recounting all the festival's various incarnations over the decades, the 1969 event's infamous rainstorms had turned the stage into a literal deathtrap around the time the Dead were originally scheduled to perform on the second night. What was the location of death? This was the second time Pigpen had been replaced by another player; but he probably took it in stride, as he had more serious things to worry about. http://www.levity.com/gans/Donna.980328.html The Deads music is absolutely 100% positive influence. Police believe his caretaker did not realize Allen was behind the car when she began to back it up, police spokeswoman Judy Altieri said. Considering what he would play later, its surprising that when his jazz trio went in the Chick Corea direction, Keith decided I didnt really have any feeling for that type of music, and instead listened to big-band jazz, Bill Evans, and bebop: the musicians the guys I was playing with were emulating After gigs wed go to somebodys house and listen to jazz until the sun came up. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). It had a quality that was magical, ethereal, spiritual, and thats part of what was so attractive about it. Mime Troupe Appeal Party II. Jerry Garcia Net Worth Eventually, according to Donna Jean Godchaux, Keith and I decided we wanted to get out and start our own group or something else anything else. Where are you? So they hit Garcia with just the right note. Donna remembered the Dead rehearsal being scheduled for the following Sunday, but the Dead canceled and only Jerry came. Not exactly a choir of angels, but some incredibly holy, pure and beautiful spiritual light. We had no doubt. 69) followed by "Sugar Magnolia" at a lowly No. The Grateful Dead were undeniably popular, but they never enjoyed what you might call "mainstream success." Compiled from concerts recorded in San Francisco between Jan. 26 and March 2, 1969, it remains one of their career highlights. I didnt realize that everyone does that to him. We may never know. Lesh was quite impressed with Keith: He was so brilliant at the beginning. From their first show as the Warlocks at a pizza place in Menlo Park to their farewell stand with three sold-out 50th anniversary shows at Chicagos Soldier Field stadium, here are some key dates on the Grateful Deads incredible journey. So it was perhaps a matter of time until the stately pyramids would be wired for sound by an American rock band, the Washington Post wrote. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF. I remember when we auditioned him. Feb. 23: Winterland bailout: A benefit is held at Winterland with Jefferson Airplane, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, Its a Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks to help raise money to cover the $37,000 bail charges racked up in the Deads New Orleans bust. I went to a concert with them and saw something I didnt know could be really happening It was not like a mind-blowing far out, just beautiful far out. June 14: Workingmans Dead: Workingmans Dead, recorded at Pacific High Recording Studio in San Francisco, marks a turn from psychedelia to a more country-rock sound, influenced by lyricist Hunter and the bands friendship with Crosby, Stills and Nash at the time. Keith Godchaux was born on July 19, 1948 and died on July 22, 1980. Shortly before the accident, he professed to . While they did only five shows in Chicago and Santa Clara, the band made over $52 million in revenue and a few waves in the process. It was the direction our lives had to go in. Jan. 19: Hall of Famers: The Grateful Dead are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the institutions ninth annual induction dinner. During that time, he embezzled something like $150,000 and hid it in a series of bank accounts and shell companies scattered across California. ~Gone but never forgotten~ RIP, Keith. Why would I want to work in the Dead and just be the way they worked? He was proud of doing music theater: During the late 60s, I was doing a Broadway play in New York at the George Abbott Theatre. I wasnt playing with anyone else before that. At least when they rolled the tapes, Keith was ready to go on every song. Ned Lagin had played on American Beauty, and guested with them at the Berkeley shows in August 71, along with several other 71 shows and backstage experiments. March 8: Pigpen dies: Ron Pigpen McKernan, the Deads beloved keyboardist and vocalist, dies of liver failure in Corte Madera at age 27. They asked me to sing right away, but somewhere in my ignorant wisdom I said I wanted to Keith to do it first, so he did two tours and I stayed home So Keith and I went into it as green and innocent as we could be. But the Grateful Dead's transformation from Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a fairly obscure band based in Palo Alto, California, in the early '60s, to one of the most beloved touring acts in the world was definitely a "long, strange trip." But their love of intoxicants was only the first in a series of mishaps that led to them playing lousy. A few minutes later, Garcia came up and sat next to Keith, and I said, Honey, I think Garcias hinting that he wants to talk to you. How did they do that? They weave a spell. Ron "Pigpen" McKernan was the first member of the Grateful Dead to pass away. The Deads song Alice D. Millionaire was inspired by newspaper accounts that described him as the LSD millionaire.. If this is the best from their tour, what can the outtakes sound like?. Although the band had employed several other keyboardists (including Howard Wales, Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin) as session musicians to augment McKernans limited instrumental contributions following the departure of Tom Constanten in January 1970, Godchaux was invited to join the group as a permanent member in September 1971. Mydland had succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. It would go on to peak at No. Donna Jean had served as a studio vocalist prior to that and had performed with the likes of Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, and Neil Diamond. The culprit: a lethal dose of heroin and speed. How much snow did Tahoe get? 42 comments 458 Posted by 3 days ago Just got to Hilton Head for a beach getaway. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns), Historic Chronicle page August 10, 1995 Front page of Datebook covering the death of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. The Deads spring 72 newsletter recounted: Sept. 14: Alive in Egypt: The Grateful Dead begin three days of shows at the Egyptian pyramids. A bitter ending to a life that looked like it was just about to turn around, Keith Godchaux will never be forgotten in the hearts and minds of Deadheads, whether they liked him . This makes him the second Grateful Dead keyboard player to suffer a tragic death at an age . The Grateful Dead's set wasn't one of them. Lenny Hart was arguably the most aggravating of them all. To add to the strangeness of his demise, Brent's final performance on July 23rd, 1990 came 10 years to the day after the death of Keith Godchaux, the former Dead keyboardist who Mydland had. Rock Musician. tv special live performance concert film cult music band Plot summary Add synopsis Genre Music The poorly organized event was meant to be the Woodstock of the West. Instead it turned into what some fans call the concert that ended the 60s. The Dead were supposed to play before the Rolling Stones, but never took the stage. Jan. 30: New Orleans bust: Police arrest 19 people and seize LSD, marijuana, barbiturates and dangerous narcotic and non-narcotic drugs in a raid of a French Quarter motel. The couple began bickering heavily as lots of touring and drug use took their toll. After surviving his diabetic coma in 1986, Garcia seemed like he was on the road to recovery and ready to finally kick his old bad habits. A year later, Keith died as the result of a car accident. ), So while its possible that Keith only started playing with the Dead near the end of the month, I think its also possible that hed met Garcia on 8/31, and perhaps even jammed with him & Kreutzmann a time or two at Keystone Korner; and rehearsals may have started earlier than we think. In July 1986, an abscessed tooth resulted in an infection. Following the groups extended touring hiatus, he primarily used a baby grand piano in 1976 and early 1977 before switching exclusively to the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano in September 1977. Oct. 19: Keith on the keys: Keith Godchaux plays his first show with the Dead as keyboardist. He died two days later at the age of 32. Known on the West Coast as Mr. Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. We know Garcia gave Keith a batch of live tapes that had been recorded at the August shows, so Keith would also have been able to listen & practice the songs at home before his 10/19/71 live debut. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in journalism and political science. He was steadying a piece of wood when the ax severed a large chunk of the middle finger on his right hand. They dug turning me on to bebop and where it came from. During this same period, Godchauxs playing in the Jerry Garcia Band which had fewer instrumentalists and hence a more open sound retained more elements of his earlier work with the Grateful Dead. Watch Keith and Donna Godchaux Perform in 1975 at Winterland Keith and Donna regrouped and started the Heart of Gold Band, featuring a hot-shot Bay Area guitarist named Steve Kimock. Without realizing it, we put a lot of pressure on him to hurry up and get better. There had also been problems at several recent concerts. In the days leading up to the shows, however, the prices for tickets on the secondary market dropped dramatically. The Grateful Dead was one of the most popular jam bands of the late 20th century. Before coming to San Francisco, Kaul was an intern at the Dallas Morning News, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Some came in their 20th century teepees, old school buses, caravans and VW buses, and lined the embankment, overlooking the field. August: Garcia cancels tour: Garcia cancels an 18-date East Coast tour scheduled to start in August after he collapses. Lowell George, Keith Godchaux: Little Feat: November 1979: Covered by Vilperin Perikunta: Spanish Moon: Lowell George: Little Feat: April 1974: Covered by : Straight from the Heart: Lowell George, Bill Payne: Little Feat: November 1979: Covered by Chris Hillman and Jennifer Warnes: Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Godchaux sustained massive head injuries in an automobile accident while being driven home from his birthday party in Marin County, California, on July 21, 1980. This brings up the question of just which was the Keystone show where Keith & Donna met Garcia. He mentions in his interview with Gans, That fall I went back to Boston for graduate school. Left to right, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan (1946 - 1973), Jerry Garcia (1942 - 1995) and Phil Lesh. He had a heart of music. They rebounded into a band called Ghosts which reformed as the Heart of Gold Band. (Theres also an oddly assertive moment before Cold Rain & Snow on the compilation, where Keith channels Keith Jarrett for a little solo riffing.) Keith was also quoted in the Book of the Dead: We went into this club in San Francisco where Garcia was playing, and just talked to him. Car crash; How old was Keith Godchaux when died? The Dead celebrated the closing as an approximately five-hour-long party and invited some guests including guitarist John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service and Ken Kesey as well as actor Dan Aykroyd who provided the midnight countdown. July 12: Together again: The Dead perform their first official Bay Area show following the hiatus at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. (Possibly the first instrument he played with Garcia was the organ, though I dont think Keith had any experience with it; at any rate, organ was the Deads first choice for many of the new songs.) Jan. 16: Raising the Dead: Surviving members guitarist Weir, 67, bassist Lesh, 75, and drummers Kreutzmann, 69, and Hart, 71 resurrect the Dead with a final tour to celebrate the bands 50th anniversary. Rolling Stone went so far to call the whole shebang a "50th anniversary hullabaloo [that] has been a rock & roll cash grab to rival any that have come before, on every level.". Prior to that, he'd done time in Bob Weir's solo band and had recorded an album with Silver, a country-rock band based in Los Angeles. The Grateful Dead Hotline, which provides information on concert dates and tickets, was besieged with calls by early afternoon, Leary wrote. Like. This was about a year and a half ago, when I first met Donna I knew I was related to them., As it happened, they were introduced almost simultaneously to the Dead and to each other, and soon married. June 2: Welnick commits suicide: Suffering from depression, Welnick takes his own life. The cause of death was "acute. On his thirty-second birthday in July 1980, he was severely injured in a car accident and died from those injuries four days later. After ongoing battles with his various addictions, Garcia checked into Serenity Knolls, a drug treatment facility in Forest Knolls, California. Donna Jean and Keith Godchaux were in the Dead until 1979, and Keith died in 1980 following a car accident. He had a side gig as a preacher and often insisted that people call him "reverend." 91. The concerts were legendary, some people said, for either their guest appearances, which included Phish's Trey Anastasio and singer/pianist Bruce Hornsby, and the high ticket prices. There are almost no jams here, just straight songs (there is a short, interesting band jam on 10/1, and a rehearsal of the Uncle Johns jam on 9/29). More on Keith. Peter Simon / Retna Ltd. But note: the jerrysite lists the New Riders playing the Friends & Relations Hall in San Francisco on Sept 17-19, which wouldnt preclude daytime rehearsals. He later committed suicide in 2006. In 1970, Keith Godchauxmarried Donna Jean Thatcher,a session vocalist. When he is on piano during these rehearsals, the honky-tonk sound from many fall 71 shows is very clear. Sept. 29: Hart beats: Bill Kreutzmann invites Mickey Hart to sit in with the Dead, making the band a sextet with two drummers. As she said in a Relix interview, The Grateful Dead came on, and it was more than musicI just could not even believe it. Keith Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Concord, California. 6. 32; Where did Keith Godchaux die? We were constantly playing records for him and so forth, but that wasnt his gift. http://archive.org/details/gd71-09-30.sbd.cousinit.18109.sbeok.shnf Keith mostly on piano Sept. 7: Vince Welnick joins: Vince Welnick, formerly of the Tubes, joins the Grateful Dead on keyboards after Mydlands death. http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/03/gd19710903-4-harding-theater-sf-ca.html, Its not known whether this benefit actually happened (probably not). The Grateful Deads full-throated roar drowned out a monotonous burglar alarm at one end of the street; the Tracys Coffee and Doughnuts people rolled their jukebox out on the sidewalk; and countless trios and quartets formed and dissolved in between., July 18: Anthem of the Sun: The Grateful Dead release their second studio album, the decidedly psychedelic Anthem of the Sun. With this recording, future bandmate Tom (T.C.) Guitarist Bob Weir landed in hot water with the police for tossing water balloons off the roof, but things took an uglier turn when the house was raided that October. Keith godchaux. LSD, Stanley also mass-produced acid when it was still legal. Note that Pigpen went into the hospital the next day. A year after leaving the Grateful Dead, Keith Godchaux was killed in a tragic auto accident. Oct. 20: Dead take a break: Fans line up to see the Dead play at Winterland before the band takes a 19-month hiatus from touring. He died the next year in a car accident. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. And the band was exhausted with us." After one wonderful night of rehearsal, Keith drove off to the car crashthat killed him. Pretty speedy, for the Dead! May 5: Warlocks play Magoos: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron Pigpen McKernan, Dana Morgan Jr. and Bill Kreutzmann play at Magoos Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park as the Warlocks, an electric band that took shape at Dana Morgans Music Store in Palo Alto. The Heart of Gold Band was organized by Keith and Donna Godchaux after their departure from the Grateful Dead in 1979. http://archive.org/details/gd71-10-01.sbd.rehearsal.cousinit.16896.sbefail.shnf very little Keith can be heard He was previously married to Donna Godchaux. Amazingly enough, the band was back to performing live by December 15, 1986, five months after he emerged from the coma. The Great Pyramids of Giza have survived all kinds of visitors over the centuries, from the Roman legions to Napoleon. Share. "The Warlocks," who would later rename their band "The Grateful Dead," perform a show in 1965. Donna has returned to live in the Shoals area and is active in the Christian ministry. Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann doesn't mince words or pull any punches. In a backstage interview with Mickey Hart years ago, he smiled when I suggested that the core members of the Dead may have precipitated their passing with their hazing. She recalled, "I was so stoned during one of the Paris shows that I found myself under [husband] Keith's piano. When he was asked why he hadnt joined the band in 1990, he said, Ive always done my own thing. Then his health took a turn for the worse. He was in a car accident and received massive head injuries from which he didn't recover. (And though no one knew it, Pigpen was likely beyond recovery by that point anyway.) It hit No. Keith and Donna Godchaux issued the mostly self-written Keith & Donna album in 1975 with Jerry Garcia as a member of their band. Garcia, whose signature look is a black T-shirt and coordinated jeans and who probably never wore a tie in his life, laughed when he recently received a box of samples, said Irwin Sternberg, the president of Stonehenge Ltd., which launched the ties. 42 yrs ago, Keith Godchaux lost his life as the result of a car crash. Keith Richard Godchaux was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. It is followed only five months later by American Beauty, another classic studio album. In later interviews, he sounds like he preferred the independence & freedom to work on his own projects. Oct. 2: Hashbury bust: Band members and friends are busted in a pot raid at 710 Ashbury St. Rock Scully (the long-haired groups long-haired business manager) and audio engineer Bob Matthews were fined $200 each. Brent Mydland's House (former) Lafayette, California (CA), US. After years of ill-health through alcohol abuse, Pigpen died in 1973. In fact, in one interview with Lemieux it was speculated that Keith never even took the reels out of their box. They played a total of 29 shows, and recorded two live albums Vintage Dead and Historic Dead there. McKernan returned to the band in late 1971 and managed to stick around through their 1972 European tour. (Ironically, he became unhappy with Brandeis and soon dropped out, to resurface on a later Dead tour), Merl Saunders, of course, was playing with Garcia all the time, plus he had done studio overdubs on several songs for the Deads 1971 live album that summer. (Some were thrilled, others dismayed.) A few years later, the band ran into trouble in New Orleans during a drug raid that, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, didn't really surprise anyone. Years later, though, the injury allegedly improved his ability to play the guitar and he often showed off the damaged digit to his fans as a sort of salute. Keith confirms that no time passed between meeting and playing: a couple of days later This is even briefer than in Donnas account! The word is that the first gig was sensational, and a few days later they went into the Deads Front Street Studio. Throughout this period, Godchauxs rented pianos were outfitted with a state-of-the-art pickup system designed by Carl Countryman. In 1994, he was inducted, posthumously, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead. Keith: It had to happen. Keith Godchaux was born on the 19th of July, 1948. When its Grateful Dead time you have to do a Grateful Dead thing. : . In 1994, Godchaux was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead. 1978 is different. Just 32 years old. Just a little over a year after leaving, Keith died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. July 10: Garcia in a coma: Garcia collapses at his Marin County home and falls into a diabetic coma. They were asked to leave at the end of 1979. She and Keith fared much better during the band's studio sessions. Lesh wrote in his book that in the first rehearsal, all through the afternoon we played a whole raft of Grateful Dead tunes, old and new. I have to think that, if it was Sunday the 19th, due to the sudden turmoil of Pigpens illness, it seems unlikely Jerry & Bill would have jammed with anyone that day. Normally, this wouldn't pose a huge health risk, but Garcia waited to have it treated and it later caused him to fall into a diabetic coma, according to theLA Times. Did this affect the others? And there does seem to have been a spiritual tie this moment prefigures not just Keiths time with the Dead, but the later Keith & Donna band with Garcia sitting in, and the Garcia Band circa 76 with Keith & Donna, bringing gospel music into the shows. The first surprise is to read that Keith had jammed with Jerry & Bill at the Keystone. But the band had forgotten to tell Jerry that the rehearsal had been called off, so Jerry was down there by himself. Photography By [Back Cover] - Cadillac Ron. The Dead may have been considering a new keyboard player even before Pigpen succumbed, and if Keith had already been playing with Garcia informally, their next candidate was right in front of them. It was Godchaux, though, who showed up at just the right moment and grabbed the baton. I didnt even try to figure out what the flash wasI just followed it, not knowing what was going to happen. http://www.blairjackson.com/chapter_twelve_additions.htm Or, the traditional story could be true: the Dead suddenly discovered after the 17th that they needed a new player; Garcia met one that very week, and they snatched him up immediately; and he learned all their songs in a week or less. Despite their reversal of fortune, Keith tragically died in a car accident on July 23, 1980. Stephen, China Cat Sunflower and Cosmic Charlie.. 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