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| lotsajizz |
Vince Welnick, 55, who played keyboards with the Grateful Dead for five years before the death of band founder Jerry Garcia, died Friday.
Sonoma County sheriffs said he was taken, injured, from his home in rural Forestville near Santa Rosa, to a local hospital.
He died there, police said.
An unofficial spokesman at the Welnick home said, ``It looks like he took his own life.'' But that is not known for sure, he said. ``The family is very grieved, and trying to figure it all out.''
Welnick arrived in San Francisco in 1971 from his hometown of Phoenix, Ariz., already a keyboardist with a group called the Beans. The Beans became the Tubes and in 1983 their song ``She's a Beauty'' was a hit.
Welnick played with Todd Rundgren after the Tubes broke up, and in 1990, was invited to try out for the Dead.
Welnick told an interviewer with the Vermont Review that the tryout was exciting. Before he played, the band sent him tapes and CDs, but he didn't have a CD player. He practiced in the hayloft of his barn and then waited for two weeks before he heard he was in.
``That fact that I screamed a lot as a child paid off and got me into the Grateful Dead,'' he told the paper. At his first concert with the band, a sound man jumped on his piano seat to test his microphone and broke the seat into 100 hundred pieces, Welnick said.
``I was somewhat paralyzed playing at first. I remember . . . thinking to myself: `Come on fingers, let's get unstuck. Let's get loose here.' Then I heard this ripple in the audience and there was a kid who yelled, `Welcome Brother Vince!' and there were stickers that said, `Yo Vinnie' stuck to the side of my keyboard. The crowd was very forgiving.''
He told the interviewer that he'd never seen the likes of such music, friendship and spirit and did not know if he ever would again.
As a member of the Dead, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He was scheduled to play the House of Blues in Chicago later this month, according to a Web site devoted to his career.
...I saw him several dozen times 1990-1995, including his Dead debut in Ohio in September 1990...he was no Brent, but he fit in well and Jerry liked him
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Grateful Dead keyboard & Piano players don't have long lifespans. |
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| Left Shoe Shuffle |
Fare you well, Vince. |
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| Lethargy |
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
Grateful Dead keyboard & Piano players don't have long lifespans.
No kidding. This is Spinal Tap-ish for sure. Total Number of dead keyboardists that are dead now: FOUR (pigpen, keith g, brent, and now vince). Amazing. |
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| lotsajizz |
only Tom Constanten has avoided the curse
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| Gimme Shelter |
RIP Vince |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
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| Poplar |
I also just learned that the keyboard player for Dark Star Orchestra died recently (preseumably drug related). DSO is THE Dead cover band, and really worth a few bucks to see if you ever liked the real thing. They actually recreate specific shows. cool stuff. The loss of Brent was a crusher. I know people who pretty much stepped away from the Dead when he died. Fare ye well, Vince
ps - Viv Savage was a killer keyboard player.
[Edited by Poplar] |
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| UGot2Rollme |
if it's suicide, it's not the first time he tried. He OD'd on valium on the Weir/Ratdog tourbus a few years back. Bobby let him go from the band after that.
RIP Vince
Missing Man Formation has one less |
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| lotsajizz |
quote:
Poplar wrote:
ps - Viv Savage was a killer keyboard player.
[Edited by Poplar]
Have a good time, ALL the time....
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| time is on my side |
RIP Vince
Welnick was the last in a long line of Grateful Dead keyboardists, several of whom died prematurely, leading some of the group's fans to conclude that the position came with a curse.
Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. Mydland had followed Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. And Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died at age 27 in 1973.
Welnick was the last musician to join the group before lead guitarist and unofficial leader Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.
The death hit Welnick particularly hard, McNally said.
"The loss of Jerry obviously affected everybody in the band, but I think in some ways it was just harder on Vince," he said.
Welnick struggled for several years after leaving the Tubes, and embraced the opportunity Garcia and the Dead gave him when they asked him to play keyboards in 1990.
"To lose it within five years hurt him I think maybe worse than anybody else in the band," McNally said.
Copyright 2006 The Assoc
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| mac_daddy |
the guy from DSO died from cancer.
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| BILL PERKS |
THANKFULLY, MAC DIDNT TAKE THE JOB IN 1987 |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Didn't Bruce Hornsby play with the Dead for awhile? I don't thing he was ever an official member though. |
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| lotsajizz |
You are correct, Mr. Motels. Bruce played in the band from September 1990 through Spring 1992 very regularly...and thereafter continued to show up and jam a few times a year with them. Some of Jerry's better moments in an otherwise dismal 1995 were when Bruce joined in (Charlotte in the spring tour for instance. He was not my favorite musician or choice as an extra piano player but he undoubtedly gave Jerry a needed kick in the ass and he always stepped it up a notch when he was there. My fave with him were what he added to JackStraw.
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Oh so that's who Vince Welnick was. No wonder I didn't recognize the name.
I'm no fan of the Dead, but it's still sad to see someone die early. My condolences to his family and friends. |
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| Lethargy |
Has this been confirmed as a suicide by Vince? |
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| Poplar |
quote:
mac_daddy wrote:
the guy from DSO died from cancer.
my bad. thanks.
[Edited by Poplar] |
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| Saint Sway |
sad that things became so sour between Vince & the guys in "The Dead" after Jerry's death. I'm sure Garcia wouldnt of wanted it that way.
Vince's website moderator went off on them. Nasty stuff.
heres the link
http://www.vincewelnick.com/index.php?module=pnForum&func=viewtopic&topic=315 |
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| gimmekeef |
Curse of the Dead...RIP...Damn I miss Jerry..... |
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| mac_daddy |
i believe vince did have a hand in his own demise - there was a bay area news link i read the other day that said as much (i heard about this friday evening; i think i read the news release on saturday)...
i was hoping that the link sway posted wasnt gonna make it here...
there was a whole bunch of weirdness that went with the vince-era. vince was jerry's guy, and that was it, but when jerry died, the "core-four" left vince by the side of the road, so to speak. there is some shady stuff that happened when vince played in bobby's ratdog a few years ago, and then there was the fact that vince didnt get included in the "surviving members of the dead" reunion, and subsequent tours...
it didnt help that this was also the weakest stretch of the band's career, both in the studio, and on stage...
hornsby didnt help, either. bruce was jerry's guy, too - but bruce played that grand piano up front (vince was in the back with all his keys), and bruce stood with the boys, accordian around his neck, and even sang parts to "jack straw." and bruce smoked. now i dug bruce - i was a bruce fan (@ least with the dead, i think his solo stuff kinda blows); his piano licks were great. but bruce wasnt part of the band. now jerry didnt give a sh*t because the entire ensemble sounded good - that msg - boston garden run in the fall 1991 (branford sat in on one of those nights in nyc; another night we went and caught a "new" and called the blues traveller at the marquee club - they played until the morning, with warren haynes sitting in, woody was there, too - i think). anyway, those were among the last of the truly great shows the band ever played.
but bruce didnt stick around forever. and the east coast summer tours had sucked since earlier that year, anyway, and they werent getting any better (but they got bigger). and jerry wasnt very healthy, and as he goes, so goes the band. highgate was horrible (dylan, with his then new band including charlie sexton and garnier, blew the dead off the stage). i thought jerry was gonna collapse from heatstroke there on the spot...
and the scene was totally outta control - w00kies that couldnt handle their sh*t, yakin' all over the place, and just acting in a generally depraved manner. as an aside, this scene continued to get worse through the phish years, too, and i kind of blame some of this on why that band went downhill. i think that phish, post95 got alot worse, musically, and the parking lot was out of control, and alot of that happened when all the scenesters hopped on the phish train after jerry passed. but in like 1991, in a gym @ unh, before many people kew about them, the blew the roof off of that place...
anyway,
vince, unfortunately, was with the grateful dead for its weakest part, and he will be remembered as such. while jerry wanted to play, the rest of the guys didnt give a sh*t about him, and never gave him anything after jerry passed...
unfortunately, vince is not the only person who was in with jerry and was subsequently blown off after jerry died. kind of an ugly scene...
goes to show ya - everybody is just human. i mean, even with the dead, it wasn't all peace, love, rainbows and happiness...
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| lotsajizz |
that 1995 summer tour was the ugliest and most ill-fated in rock history...disasters everywhere...I was the Highgate shows in 1994 and 1995 and the latter was just one of the saddest concert experiences ever--Jerry was VERY obviously no longer interested in living and showed it (and yes, Dylan's set smoked!!) |
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| corgi37 |
Of course i didnt recognise this dudes name, but i liked the Tubes for about a year. I had their "remote control" album. Very, very good stuff. Sort of a heavy Blondie sound. The clips from that album were played virtually every week on the one and only late night music show we had in 1979-80. Remote control was a concept album about t.v. thats more relevant today than it was then.
I must get it on cd, or download it one of these days. What ever happened to Fee Waybil? He's like 6ft 6in or something. Cant forget the chick in the band either, a dead ringer for Jerry Hall.
And, like most records of that time, i bought it mainly for the cover.
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| UGot2Rollme |
quote:
corgi37 wrote:
What ever happened to Fee Waybil?
The Tubes were in the process of reforming with all the original members, including Fee. With Vince gone, I assume they will continue with those plans.
I saw Fee and the Tubes a few years back outdoors in some small town in Wisconsin. They did the whole act, including S&M scene with Fee whipping some chick's ass. I'm really surprised nobody called the police. |
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| corgi37 |
They really pushed the envelope for a while. I consider them a demented Devo. |
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| Jaxx |
yes. it appears to be a confirmed suicide. and no bruce hornsby has only been a "guest" player and not an "official" member of the band. here's another interesting article i found yesterday outlining "the curse"
Death Strikes Dead, Again
by Joal Ryan
Jun 5, 2006, 2:10 PM PT
The Grateful Dead's longtime spokesman doesn't believe in curses. But even he can't explain the matter of the band's keyboard players.
Vince Welnick, who played keyboards for the tie-dyed outfit from 1990-95, died Friday at age 55. He is the fourth Dead piano man to pass away. On average, a Dead keyboard player has died every 8.25 years since 1973.
"I find it stunning, and I just don't know where it comes from," band publicist Dennis McNally said Monday. "They chose four times keyboard players...[who] one way or the other found it hard to keep on."
"I don't know why it happens, but it's very sad."
Welnick died "after a decade of battling tragedy while creating music, beauty and light around him," his official Website said. The San Francisco Chronicle was more specific with regards to cause of death, reporting it as an apparent suicide.
"His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential," a statement on the Dead's official Website said. "He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share."
Welnick was said to have been hit especially hard by the 1995 death of Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, who played lead guitar. Garcia's passing meant the end of the band's nearly 30-year Summer of Love, although surviving Dead members have regrouped in recent years.
In a VinceWelnick.com message-board post attributed to Mike Lawson, a friend of the late musician, Dead members, including guitarist Bob Weir, were blasted for not including Welnick in those post-Garcia shows.
"He loved you and you f--king treated him like s--t," the post said. "To see your 'heartfelt' message on Dead.net today sickens me to no end, you f--king bunch of lying hypocrites."
"Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Hippy love? Bull-f--king-s--t."
McNally said he'd read the Lawson-credited post. "I respect the quality of his affection for Vince, and the trauma he's going through," he said. "The only response is to try to be compassionate. I can't comment on specifics."
Born February 21, 1951, in Phoenix, Welnick was a member of the Tubes ("White Punks On Dope"), and recorded with the likes of Todd Rundgren and Dick Dale before securing the Dead gig. Welnick replaced Brent Mydland (overdose, 1990), who'd replaced Keith Godchaux (car crash--after he'd left the band, 1980), who'd played alongside and eventually replaced Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan (reported stomach hemorrhage due to heavy drinking, 1973).
"The Way It Is" hitmaker Bruce Hornsby, who sat in with the Dead after Mydland's death, is among those who have played keyboards for the band to no apparent ill effect.
McNally said he'll always remember Welnick for working out an arrangement of the National Anthem for the Dead to sing at the San Francisco Giants' 1993 baseball home opener. Given that the Dead "were not legendary for their harmonies," as McNally put it, the task wasn't an easy one. But the result, in his opinion, was a sublime one.
"It was straight Sons of the Pioneers--classic three-part harmony...It was this marvelous moment." McNally said. "And it was because of him."
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| Dan |
quote:
corgi37 wrote:
What ever happened to Fee Waybil?
He was spotted backstage at the New Cars/Blondie show at the Universal Amphitheatre. Saw a version of the Tubes at some park in Van Nuys on a triple bill with Cheap Trick and The Plimsouls (with Clem Burke on drums!) |
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| Poplar |
quote:
mac_daddy wrote:
i think that phish, post95 got alot worse, musically, and the parking lot was out of control, and alot of that happened when all the scenesters hopped on the phish train after jerry passed.
i think you're right, but only to a degree. The Phish crowd certainly grew in 95, but I didn't notice the problems until a few years later. Maybe it was a matter of critical mass. I thought the Phish "scene" was ok through about 97. By 98/99, it was starting to get ugly, especially around urban areas and in the Northeast.
As for the music, I really disagree. Phish was doing amazing stuff in 97, and even on up to the Big Cypress show. See Hampton '97... two of the best concerts I've ever seen (or heard, for that matter). But things started to decline as a whole in 98. The post hiatus stuff was spotty as well, but still enjoyable. As for the 80's & 90's, I'd always take a B- phish show over a B Dead show. When the Dead were bad, they sucked. Even an average Phish should could be a pretty good time, depending on the venue.
[Edited by Poplar] |
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| lotsajizz |
I saw 100 Grateful Dead shows 1982-1995...some terrible, but none as bad as even the best Phish show I ever saw (except maybe Highgate '95)...this is one ol' Head who NEVER has seen the appeal of Phish.... |
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| Poplar |
quote:
lotsajizz wrote:
this is one ol' Head who NEVER has seen the appeal of Phish....
very different bands.
The Dead: a folk band. Traditional tunes turned 60's music.
Phish: very progressive stuff. Almost 21st Century. |
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