Bob Weir and David Bowie

Bob Weir of Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

Last month January 10th, 2026 on the 10 year anniversary of the passing of David Bowie, we lost another music legend, Bob Weir. Two very different types of musicians but trailblazing, creatively artistic geniuses in their own regard. Listened to and loved by so many from different walks of life worldwide while they were here, both will be worshipped long after their passing thanks to the passion of their craft and the kinship it continues to create. 

Born on on October 16th 1947, Robert Hall Weir co-founded The Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Ron Mckernan in 1965 when he was just 18 years old. 

Growing up, The Grateful Dead is all my mom listened to. Well, The Dead and Bob Marley is all I can remember her listening to. Being that she was a single mom, that's all me and my sister heard in our younger years before mom's music taste broaded a little. Dad, on the other hand, listened to all types of different music. Because of him, me and my sister were exposed to everything from The Dead, to Queen, The Rolling Stones to Ice-T and Jerry Jeff Walker and everything in between. 

The Grateful Dead was my first concert. I actually saw them twice as a little girl and both times were with Jerry Garcia. I was too young to remember either experience and even though I didn't grow up to be  a Dead Head, it has never been lost on me how special it is that The Grateful Dead was my first concert. 

John Mayer and Bob Weir of Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

You read that right, I did not grow up to follow in my mom's Dead Head footsteps. Rather, I steered clear of jam band bands having heard enough, if not too much of it early on in life. From what I remembered it all sounds like the same one long song. I didn't get it and I ended up not liking it nor the memories this type of music can conjure up for me. 

Naturally, my dad's enthusiasm for music has never faded. Over the years he frequented a number of Dead and Company shows as he does with artists he loves, especially as they get older. 

Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

When Dead and Company played the Sphere in Vegas last Spring, my dad was there for a couple of their shows in April. He raves about those shows and I have no doubt they were very cool, trippy even. Later that year when he told me he was going to see Dead and Company play in Golden Gate Park I voiced some concern. The shows in Golden Gate Park were more of a festival setting, one which I didn't think my dad would particulary care for. He did not disagree but shared that Bobby, as he called him, wasn't doing well and this might be his last chance to see the legend live. Turns out my dad was correct. Those Dead and Company shows were the last time he saw Bob Weir perform live. 

When I heard about Weir's passing on January 10th, I was on my way to celebrate my birthday which is January 11th at the 15th Annual Bowie Bash at Great American Music Hall in SF. My dad was the first person I thought of when I heard the news. Him and his premonition. It made me happy knowing he had seen  Bob Weir that one last time and in Golden Gate Park no less. 

Great American Music Hall marquee for the Bowie Bash 1/10/2026 
photo by Nikki DeMartini

There was an outpouring of admiration in San Francisco the days after his passing. The Grateful Dead were from the Bay Area after all and headed the counter culture that was the soundtrack of the Summer of Love in the 1960's. With Weir gone there's only one remaining original member of The Dead left, drummer Bill Kreutzman. 

Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

John Mayer and Bob Weir of Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

The ship has sailed for me to see Dead and Company with my dad, a show I would have  actually remembered seeing with him. It's something I wish I would have thought to do when I had the chance instead of being haunted by my past. As we grow older, some of us grow wiser, evolving with the ever  changing seasons of life as they pass. I took this opportunity to give The Grateful Dead another chance and set fourth to see if there might be some songs of theirs I do in fact like. 

The Grateful Dead American Beauty album cover 

I've always liked "Scarlet Begonias" from their 1974 album, Mars Hotel, and no, not just because Sublime covered it. I must have liked it when I was little, a forgotten core memory of you will. As soon as I heard "Friend of the Devil" and "Truckin" from their 1970 album American Beauty all of the lyrics came rushed back as if I had just listened to the songs yesterday. All good songs, classics, and not too jam bandy. I stopped there as to not overwhelm myself. 

I had a confession to make the next time I saw my dad: I had found Grateful Dead songs that I liked and could listen to. He laughed and told me he didn't consider himself a Dead Head. This surprised me, to which he said that listening to The Grateful Dead wasn't his whole personality. It wasn't his identity. Being a fan of The Dead didn't consume all of his musical taste, something I've known my whole life yet alwasy thought he was a Dead Head. Dad proved me wrong yet again and I couldn't be more relieved that he was right this time. He usually is when it comes to music. This is when he reminded me that the street he lived on when I was in High School, Harrington Street in San Francisco's Exclesior District was renamed to Jerry Garcia Street because that's where the childhood home of the famous musican is. 

Bob Weir of Dead and Company at The Sphere April 2025 
photo by Curtis DeMartini

The compassion felt surrounding Weir's passing helped me find a new appreciation for the music he made. I've always appreciated The Grateful Dead but now I can listen to them and appreciate them in a whole new way. 

The universe works in mysterious ways and with two passings of famous musicians on the same day albeit a decade apart, I can't help but wonder who will be next to go on January 10th. Things do happen in threes, if you believe in that sort of thing.