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The Grateful Thread

deadheadskier

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maineskier69 said:
RIP Vince Welnick.


Indeed very sad

I missed the first couple songs, so perhaps they did indeed say something, but from what I can tell, DSO made no mention/tribute concerning Vince's passing tonight.

All and all a great show though. Glad I made the last second decision to head down
 

ckofer

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deadheadskier said:
Indeed very sad

I missed the first couple songs, so perhaps they did indeed say something, but from what I can tell, DSO made no mention/tribute concerning Vince's passing tonight.

All and all a great show though. Glad I made the last second decision to head down

They opened with a very good Here Comes Sunshine. I had been craving that tune.

A friend told me about Vince at the show. A bit tough to take. I met him at The Stone Church (see http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/jamspam/ for a pic) and The Rochester Opera house too last summer and fall, respectively. He seemed like a very kind person but there was a certain sadness or weakness about him. The shows were poorly attended :-( . He was backed by a band from NYC called Gent Treadly and Rhythm Ship opened.

If he was in pain, he is no longer.

-ck

In my mind's ear tune Ripple which was playing when Rocky in the movie Mask ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089560/ ) is found in his room after passing away in his sleep.
 

maineskier69

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I heard no mention of Vince's passing either at DSO.

Great show though, I grooved right through from start to finish.....
 

ckofer

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maineskier69 said:
I heard no mention of Vince's passing either at DSO.

Great show though, I grooved right through from start to finish.....

It was something that seemed like it could wait till later to talk about. I kept wondering whether the band was holding back the news...

Show #1,251 - Sat, Jun 3, 2006 at Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NH
Performing 6/3/2006 Original Setlist

1:HC Sunshine> Jack Straw, Dire Wolf, Esau, Run for the Roses> Sunrise, Maggie's Farm> Cumberland, BT Wind, Lazy River Road, Music

2:Scarlet> Fire, St Stephen> Lovelight> Drums> Space> Sailor> Saint> Gimme Some Lovin> GDTRFB> Lovelight

Encore: Like A Road

Filler: None
Special guest keyboardist Dan Klepinger
 

dmc

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We found out just as Mule was getting ready to take the stage last night at the Mountain Jam at Hunter MT...

Warren dedicated the show to him and Ramrod.. Mike Gordon(Phish) came out and played bass on Loser and Terrapin(not the whole song)...

It was pretty amazing...

Vince's legacy is not the best one as fat as GD music is concerned... He was adequate at best... And he was a great keyboard player - just never seemed to be in the mix...

RIP Vince...
 

dmc

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http://www.vincewelnick.com/index.php?module=pnFor um&func=viewtopic&topic=315

Vince Welnick is gone. He was the sweetest human I have ever known. Kind, generous, funny and warm hearted. He was my friend. He was talented, so fucking talented. I was lucky to know him. So, damned lucky to know him and Lori. God bless you, Lori. I'm so, so sorry.

Vince never got over the cruel way that the Grateful Dead band members treated him after Jerry died. He never got over the sorrow of losing Jerry, facing his own demons without his friend and could not understand how the remaining fellow band-members treated him like shit the past several years.

I cannot possibly describe to you the hurt and anguish he felt when "The Dead" decided to have a "Family Reunion of the SURVIVING MEMBERS" of Grateful Dead, a band that he was no mere sideman for its last five years, but a full member of by order of Jerry Garcia. How damned insulting was it to have a "surviving members family reunion" and not invite your brother? Did it occur to you how that hurt him, Bill, Bob, Phil, Mickey? The truth is that you selfish bastards did not care if it hurt him. He's a big boy, he just had to get over it, right?

I remember seeing Todd Rundgen at the "Walk Down Abbey Road" show in Concord, CA around the same time when that "Family Reunion" was booked. He asked how Vince was, and I told him about this "family reunion" concert of SURVIVING MEMBERS and how Vince was specifically not invited, but in fact was playing a gig at a campground not far from the show. Todd said, "Uh, Vince isn't dead, isn't he a surviving member?" He got the irony. I got the irony, but I also saw the hurt like none of you can believe. Vince kept a brave face about it, trying to remain cheerful, hoping that somehow, someday the tide would turn, the phone would ring and it would be Bob Weir calling him. Calling just to say, "How are you, Vinny?" Something. Anything.

I am certain that Jerry would have been completely disgusted with the terrible, cruel and despicable way that Vince was treated by the band, the management, etc. following his death. The lack of compassion displayed toward him, the ostracizing he felt burned and hurt Vince very deeply. He was a sensitive, sweet soul. He just couldn't handle the rejection. He and I spent hours and hours talking about these things, trying to get the demons out, which led to him pouring out his heart when that show happened, right on this website.

I told Vince to get his story out, tell everybody what happened on that Ratdog bus, tell them everything. Tell them how Ratdog sent him, having overdosed on the tour bus, to a hospital in the back of a taxi cab, without a friend in site, and had him checked in as John Doe. Tell them he was despondent over facing life-threatening cancer, a simultaneous diagnosis of Emphysema, and instead of staying home to try to heal, how he chose to give the fans the ill-fated summer 95 Dead tour. Tell them how nobody in the band even acknowledged, though they damned well knew, that Vince was very sick.

Tell them Vince, I said, how you didn't want to let the fans and the band down, and how eery it was on the tour knowing all these people who were your "friends" never asked how you were while on the road or even stepped aside with you to acknowledge that struggle you were facing. Tell everyone, Vince, how when you returned from the road, and Jerry was dead, how you were flung into the hell of depression facing lung disease, cancer and now your friend dying, and how you saw your world crash around you ever more when six months late the band unceremoniously announced it was over. Tell them Vince, tell everyone and get the demons out.

Even more amazing than the band being cold to him, I could never understand why so-called "dead heads" and "fans" spent hours coming into this site and fucking with Vince, taunting him, posting evil, nasty lies about him. I finally had to turn this into a registration-only website to help shield my friend from the cruelness that some people took sport in on the message boards. Vince could take a joke, he could take a lot, but he finally couldn't take any more.

I had long, heart to heart talks with him for months before he told some of that story to you here, though not even close to all that detail. Vince didn't want to hurt the other guys, he just fucking wanted to play with them.

Do you hear me, Phil? Do you hear me, Mickey? Do you hear me, Bobby? Do you hear me, Bill? That's all he fucking wanted, was to play music with you guys. He loved you and you fucking treated him like shit. To see your "heartfelt" message on Dead.net today sickens me to no end, you fucking bunch of lying hypocrites. There is nothing left to hold back on now. Is it so hard to return the man's phone calls? Is it so hard to understand what he went through back then and how far he had come since that dreadful night on that Ratdog bus? Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Hippy love? Bull-fucking-shit. You guys could have been nice to him, invited him along, not made him feel like an ass and like he was bugging you if he called. Are you happy, Cameron? Are you? Go fuck yourself.
 

marcski

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I never really knew (still don't really) what happened between Vince and the band, why he was never asked to play in the reunion tours. I mean, I agree with DMC, that he never really gelled with the band...despite his technical abilities.
 

Vortex

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Everyone has opinion. The post Jerry year issues were pretty well given on Vince's page by the Web master.... At least one side. I saw it earlier today. Just sad its ending in frustration and anger. Only those who were there really have all the facts. My thoughts are for his family and those who worked with him.
 

dmc

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Bob R said:
Only those who were there really have all the facts. My thoughts are for his family and those who worked with him.

the fact that he was excluded from the GD reunion was a travesty... It's a shame..
 

Vortex

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I know Mr Hart brought him into the mix for a tour and tried to get him into the Dead again for at least one tour.

I never made the reunion. The Q at Red Rocks is the last time I got on a plane for GD related stuff. Probably the last. Well I did fly from Texas to Phili, but that was cause of work got in the way of a tour. That was Phil not the New Dead.
I'm to old and I don't feel its worth that effort anymore. Just my opinion.
 

jackstraw

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dmc said:
the fact that he was excluded from the GD reunion was a travesty... It's a shame..

seems to go against everything the band stands for...or at least Jerry.

i've heard Bobby is or can be a little high on himself.

sad news.
 

Vortex

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Rich did you end up buying tickets fro any of the Phil shows? Who else is going to grab a leg or this tour? I saw DMC is going to Bethel and Roark is hitting Saratoga. I'm in on Camden through Bost.
 
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