Vince Welnick dead at 51. . .or 55. . .no one seems to be sure

Vince Welnick, the Grateful Dead's last keyboard player and a veteran of other bands, including the Tubes and Missing Man Formation, has died, the Grateful Dead's longtime publicist said Saturday.

You can find the Mercury News story here.

A lot of us--e.g., Deadheads--never quite accepted Vince after the death of Brent Mydland...another guy who never felt like he fit in. We wanted Bruce Hornsby in that slot. Alas, after a year or so playing side by side with Vince (Bruce on the grand piano and accordian, Vince on everything else) and seeing Jerry's backslidin', Bruce opted out. I think he clicked all right with the band, but never quite did with the fans. The post-Jerry Dead did not seem to embrace him either, although I've been reading all sorts of nice things about him and his music from the Dead members...since he died.

He obviously struggled with that lack of acceptance, and depression. And he appears to have taken his own life.

I probably saw Vince with the Grateful dead eight times. The time I remember best is the last time I saw him. A lot of people say that run, and the show on 5/26/95 in Seattle was a 90's high point. It was for me. A transcendant show, really, and with Jerry finally totally embracing midi in a way he never had before, good singing, not too many flubbed lyrics or Jerry pulling back from the mike when he forgot the words. . .they were great and even Vince went off on some insanely great vocal tangents. I remember standing there with my friend Dave that fantastic warm afternoon in Memorial stadium. Tingling. Waiting for the show. The beast was unleashed. And Dave and I were inexorably in her arms. And it was good. Fire on the mountain was a complete and total mind-f*er. It was insane, it was great. They sang and played like kings! Neighbors did love neighbors at a show, and we all took care of each other a little bit. We would never again really be together as a community after that day. I would never see Jerry or Vince again. Jerry died a month after that show

The traditional Dead prayer for the missing: "May the four winds blow you safely home."

It's
so
quiet
you
hear
dust
motes
six
feet
up
bump
in
shafts
of
sunlight.

(from "the absence of footprints," (c) 2004, All This Is That).
---o0o---