The music fell silent, but the long, strange trip echoes on.
Bob Weir, the rhythmic heartbeat of the Grateful Dead, has passed at 78.
Weir was an architect of community, weaving jazz, country, and psychedelia into a tapestry of sound that defined a culture.
His family announced his peaceful passing Saturday, following a battle with cancer and underlying lung issues.
True to his indomitable spirit, just weeks after his July diagnosis, he returned to his San Francisco roots for three luminous, soul-stirring nights in Golden Gate Park, a final gift to the faithful.
From a dyslexic teen who found his language in a guitar to the statesman of the jam, Weir’s journey was one of relentless creation.
His dream was a three-hundred-year legacy for the Dead’s songbook.
For generations of Dead Heads who found family in the music, that dream is now the promise they carry forward.
