{"id":83868,"date":"2024-10-27T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T14:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=83868"},"modified":"2024-10-27T09:30:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-27T14:30:32","slug":"phil-lesh-grateful-dead-bassist-who-hosted-musical-passover-seders-dies-at-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/phil-lesh-grateful-dead-bassist-who-hosted-musical-passover-seders-dies-at-84\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead bassist who hosted musical Passover seders, dies at 84"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Among the legions of Grateful Dead fans mourning Phil Lesh are a small but devoted cohort of Jewish Deadheads with memories of celebrating Passover with him.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_83869\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-83869\" class=\"wp-image-83869 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/198;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-83869\" class=\"wp-image-83869 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Grateful-Dead-seder.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-83869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phil Lesh lights the candles as Jeannette Ferber, a cantorial soloist at Berkeley&#8217;s Renewal congregation Chochmat HaLev, sings the blessing, and guitarist Ross James looks on. (\u00a9 Bob Minkin Photography \/ www.minkinphotography.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cTo life! To Phil! Our love will not fade away! Eternally grateful,\u201d the Jewish vocalist Jeannette Ferber posted on Facebook, alongside a picture showing herself with Lesh at a seder.<\/p>\n<p>Lesh, the legendary jam band\u2019s bassist, died Friday at 84. His Instagram account, which announced his death without specifying a cause, said Lesh was \u201csurrounded by his family and full of love\u201d and \u201cleaves behind a legacy of music of love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That legacy includes facilitating musical Jewish holiday celebrations at Terrapin Crossroads, a restaurant and music venue that he operated with his wife in San Rafael, California, from 2011 until 2021. Lesh was not Jewish, but he was long aware of the large number of Jewish fans among the Grateful Dead\u2019s devoted following and sought to create space for them in the community-oriented venue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to honor all traditions of our fans \u2014 as what is community without its traditions and world view?\u201d he told J. The Jewish News of Northern California in 2014, the year of the first seder. After the Passover meal, which featured food donated by a deli owner and Deadhead, Lesh\u2019s Terrapin Family Band played a two-hour set including covers of the spiritual \u201cGo Down Moses\u201d and Bob Marley\u2019s \u201cExodus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Phil Lesh w\/ Lebo, Exodus - April 11, 2017 Terrapin Crossroads\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bgzmVBP7V68?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ferber, then the cantorial soloist at the Berkeley, California, Renewal congregation Chochmat HaLev, led most of the seder, kicking off a recurring event that always ended with an extended set featuring Lesh and regularly sold out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my family, and who I spend the most time with, so it makes sense that this is how I\u2019d spend my Passover,\u201d Brian Markovitz, who ran the deadheadland website as well as the Facebook group Jews for Jerry, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2016. \u201cIt\u2019s so great that Phil recognizes that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The seders drew on Lesh\u2019s longtime ties to Jews and Jewish culture. Born in Berkeley in 1940, he was devoted to music from an early age and learned to play bass after being recruited by Jerry Garcia in 1964 to join a band that would become the Grateful Dead. The band\u2019s big break came after the famed rock promoter Bill Graham, a child refugee from the Nazis whose mother was murdered at Auschwitz, booked a gig at the Fillmore San Francisco. Its members \u2014 including one Jew, Mickey Hart \u2014 continued to play together until Garcia\u2019s death in 1995. Afterwards, Lesh performed with his own group, Phil Lesh and Friends.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish affinity for the Grateful Dead has bordered on the religious, with Jewish Deadheads holding prayer and music retreats around the country. \u201cJews and the Dead relate in that we both wander,\u201d a Deadhead from Jerusalem told JTA during a 2012 retreat at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut. (A contemporary successor to the Grateful Dead, Phish, is similarly entwined with Jewish cultural and religious identity, according to a recent scholarly book; Lesh performed with his former Grateful Dead bandmates for the last time in a joint concert with Phish.) The fan group behind the seders has continued coming together for holidays, including most recently for a Sukkot concert last week.<\/p>\n<p>For Lesh, who is survived by his wife and two sons, the seders were meaningful events that he returned to even when he was no longer needed to host.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho knew you could have so much fun at a seder?\u201d he asked at the first seder in 2014. \u201cWords fail me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, with Terrapin Crossroads closed because of the pandemic, he joined a group of diehards at a virtual seder. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t miss this for anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Phil%20Lesh%2C%20Grateful%20Dead%20bassist%20who%20hosted%20musical%20Passover%20seders%2C%20dies%20at%2084\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":83869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7117,7137],"tags":[1384,8790,8795,8788,14095],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83870,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83868\/revisions\/83870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}