Bobby Weir Is Open to a 60th Anniversary Grateful Dead Reunion
Today Rolling Stone published a lengthy interview with Bobby Weir, the first all-out Rolling Stone Interview that Weir has ever done. Meeting up with him in Los Angeles, where the Grateful Dead were being honored at the annual MusiCares event, senior writer Angie Martoccio spoke with Weir about a wide variety of topics. Here are a few takeaways.
Asked about the idea of a possible reunion to mark the Dead's 60th anniversary this year, Weir said, 'When Phil [Lesh] checked out, so did that notion, because we don't have a bass player who's been playing with us for 60 years now.' But as for future projects with drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, Weir added, tantalizingly, 'I suppose I could go back out. I wouldn't put anybody in [Lesh's] place, so it would be a trio at this point. It'd be me and two drummers. … I haven't thought about it — it's just now occurring to me that it's a possibility that we could do that, since you asked.… I guess we'll just see what the three of us can pull together.'
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Lesh, of course, did not join up with Dead & Co., and Weir acknowledged that, over the decades, the two had 'our differences.' But, he added, 'The last phone call I had from him was when the news came out that we were being honored at the Kennedy Center. He called me just simply to congratulate me and us, and that was his entire reason for calling. And when we were done talking about that, I was spun out, he was spun out. We tried to make sense of it for a little bit. And then said, 'Well, OK, see you there,' basically.' (The honors ended up taking place weeks after his death.)
According to Weir, the book will likely be called It's Always July Under the Lights, a reference to his penchant for shorts and sandals onstage, and he's written the 'first few chapters' of the book. 'I got a fair bit done,' he added about his morning writing routines. 'I've just got to get back to that. That's going to be excellent news for my publisher.' But we might have to expect a title change at some point. As Weir said, 'Except that's not true anymore. The new lights that they have, it's not always July under the lights.' (Note to Dead & Co. crew: Revert to old-school lighting rigs to inspire him?)
Over the last few years, Deadheads have reveled in videos of Weir working out in gyms and in the great outdoors with various weights and hammers. He admitted to RS that he's fallen out of his routines, but not for long: 'I'm about to get back into it because I miss it. I had to take a little break. I got swamped with other stuff. I've gotten awfully busy in the last little while.' Weir added that he's taken to 'running barefoot in the morning on rocky roads. Because I think that's a great way to get grounded. I don't run very fast, because I want to breathe through my nose. And I try to incorporate meditation into that. … You're the first person I've talked to about it. I've been doing it about a year, a year and a half.'
'Oh, absolutely,' Weir said. 'I have no doubt about that. What I'm trying to do is get my concerto project to the point where that is self-sustaining, and then I would probably want other folks to step in when I'm no longer here … That whole thing is constructed so that anyone can step in and do it.'
Maybe because he's had a few health scares over the years, including collapsing onstage in 2013, Weir appears sanguine about whatever comes next. 'Every day, things change,' he says. 'I'll say this: I look forward to dying. I tend to think of death as the last and best reward for a life well-lived. That's it. I've still got a lot on my plate, and I won't be ready to go for a while.' Good news for those who've bought tickets to the next round of Dead & Co. shows at the Sphere in Vegas.
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