Moesha Be Jerry
It was some 8 months after Phish had announced their first extended break, the end of 1.0. I had not made it to the West Coast for the Shoreline shows, having blown my load on Trey’s B-Day bash in Vegas…I’m not mad at me. Needless to say when I learned that Trey’s solo project was going to be starting at Red Rocks of all places, I was on the phone ordering tickets the minute they went on sale. Surely the guy from the band that was banned from Red Rocks would pack the joint, right? As it turned out, there would be tickets on the ground, what a great weekend to get a miracle.
This isn’t a review of the weekend, merely a moment. A moment that at the time made me take notice and years later we are on the precipice of that moment coming full circle. See, there were a ton of people who didn’t want or understand why the band they loved and followed for so many years had stopped to take a break. So when, on the second night, Trey closed out the second set alone onstage, acoustic in hand, it was a revealing moment. He played a tune that would wind up on the Oysterhead album, then he played Bathtub Gin. I honestly believe the moment the crowd performed Trey’s solo for him was a huge affirmation for that man. Anyone who was there knows what I’m talking about, the smile on his face said it all. He was blown away by the people who had chosen to come see him, something new.
As the band returned for the encore, Trey stepped up and spoke, the crowd hushed as he thanked us for being “so cool”, accepting of new music and the fact that this had to happen for Phish to continue. They launched into Moesha…
Now, I’ve always said it’s Moesha Be, rather than Moesha Me, I stick with that assertion. It just makes more grammatical sense to me. As the song came down the finish line, new lyrics made their way into the mix.
Moesha be Down, Moesha be Up
Moesha be Avalanche, Moesha be Cup
Moesha be Rainbow, Moesha be Knots
Moesha be Red, Moesha be Rocks
Then it happened…
Moesha be Straight, Moesha be Gay
Moesha be Jerry, Moesha be Trey
I remember looking at my buddy, a guy who was from California and had actually seen the Dead…what did he say? Of course I knew what he said when he said it. He had actually acknowledged that thing that so many others had felt…his inevitable connection with the Jerry Garcia. As much as some Deadheads had wanted to get as far away from Phish as possible, make no mistake, Trey and Phish wanted to do the same. Try coming up in the shadow of being told and described as “Like the Grateful Dead”, what in the hell does that even mean?! How is that even possible?! It’s the reason that of all the bands that Phish has covered and costume’d, the Dead left their set lists so long ago few remembered their was a time when their 2 song suite was Scarlett>Fire , as in Jimi’s Fire. It’s another reason why the Terrapin at VA Beach was such a big deal in ‘98. They had finally reached a place where they could acknowledge Jerry and the Dead, without being pigeon-holed by it.
So as we get ready to see what The Grateful Dead 50 has in store for us, realize this is marriage of forces that have been on a collision course for quite some time. As I have discussed before, the Greek root translation of Anastasio is ‘Ressurection”. Here’s to an unforgettable night.
Inspiration, Move T Brightly.
