Episode 2: All About Jerry

Big Steve explains his relationship with Jerry Garcia and the philosophy the two followed.

[@jimsheppard7654]

I'm 55 years old. Ben playing guitar since I was 6 years old. Jerry was and still is my biggest influence. Great man. Will always love him

[@alancovert5088]

Love your stories!!! More!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Working on it!

[@paulcolvin9391]

Love you too Steve. We’re all so lucky to have you doing this. Thanks!!!!

[@timpafundi6321]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and memories ✌️☮️. Makes me miss Jerry even more.

[@tobysshades]

Im loving the stories Big Steve! This is just beyond awesome!!! 😎

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Glad you like them!

[@62podcast96]

Love ya Big Steve! We all appreciate your generosity with this series! ☮️

[@edwinharris3699]

Man this episode brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful. Thank you Steve. ⚡️

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thank you for watching.

[@curtwelling6853]

Big Steve, an American treasure.

[@MaureenObrien-h1e]

I love all your stories, Steve, but especially your stories with just Jerry!😅 I always remember when you 2 came into the Studio late & there was a whole tank of nitrous left there from an earlier party. So you guys sit down on 2 low plastic boxes,or similar. You start toking on the nitrous and just keep on & on, laughing Next thing ya know your both on the floor, eye to eye!!😅 You both fell over & hit Noggins! You said you both got up & split for home in your own rides!!! 😂 That's hysterical cos I can relate to that happening to me & my friend back in the day! Love these stories they're so human!❤❤😂😂

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thank you.

[@justicampa9332]

Steve! I can’t not tell you how much I appreciate this KZbin vid, because I always miss your show on the XM GD Show while driving. I was really missing my Big Steve. Apart from listening to the bank, you are my in depth connection to Jerry, the band, the phenomenon that I was lucky to experience. These stories only you have, so please keep recording. You know we will chime in. We are your people and we want to hear every little drop you care to share. Stay strong and strange. Love you, my friend.

[@TommyR919]

I think all his xm shows are available to stream from the Sirius app 🤘

[@soyounoat]

Your story of how this all developed is one of the best I have heard. The right guy at the right place at the right time, it does appear you were touched by the best magic, and you handled it right. You were at the center of the musical-spiritual phenomenon of Jerry and Grateful Dead which found me over four decades ago and reverberates with me and so many of my friends and family to this day. I was inspired by the GD (Jerry and Phil in particular) to make music, and I have been doing so for many years. My son has a love for the music, and I sense that the music of the Grateful Dead will roll into the traditional music pantheon just as traditional bits like "I Know You Rider" were picked up by the Dead. I can imagine some evolution of "Uncle John's Band" being sung hundreds of years from now, maybe some phrases and names modified to fit the times, whether or not the origin is known. This here is musical history of a HIGH order. Thank you Big Steve for doing this. I'll continue to do my part.

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thanks for all!

[@kimwentz442]

Whoo hoo, having a listen. Sounds Rollin. Enjoying the comfort of it all.❤

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@timriley4648]

We are lucky to have such a friend. Thanks Steve!

[@kevinhickey1458]

The picture with Howard and Jerry on Hooteroll burning a number is priceless.

[@gregswenarton4353]

Thank You Steve, for All You've Done

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thanks for checking it out.

[@matthewbarker3001]

Could listen to big steve all day. Fascinating

[@PlantoftheApes1983]

I love this! Steve you are the luckiest guy out there in space man. To get to spend that much time and have that connection with Jerry is magical. I wasn’t born until 83’ but I remember my uncle playing the Dead in the garage and my dad and him smoking joints. I didn’t get fully on the bus until I was about 14/15 so I obviously never saw Jerry but the connection through the music is like nothing else. Much love brother!

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Much Love to You! Thanks for watching.

[@gratefulhank]

This sure is great. These stories and photos are what I live for. Thanks Big Steve ⚡❤️🤍💙⚡🎶🎵🎵🎶😎😁🌝

[@WithCarePlz]

Big Steve! Thanks for these Jerry stories, man. I am a guitar player and I improvise around this music all the time, and write my own. And Jerry is my biggest guitar hero and biggest inspiration. But also as a person I look up to him a lot. Hearing about all this stuff is like soul food for me. When I’m ready to hit the road I need to find my own Big Steve type of dude that I can always count on lol. Hopefully the universe will bring me a great roadie.

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thanks for watching!

[@brianaxel4589]

Thank you Big Steve!

[@nellynuz42069]

Can't wait to hear more of these!

[@LivingDeadinthepast]

You have a calming voice like how Jerry’s was . I love how you love weed with a passion . God bless you brother .

[@jimmypenrose1401]

Hey Big Steve - gotta a couple of questions for you about Jerry's guitar rig: I know Jerry was using Fender Twin pre-amps that went into MacIntosh power amps to drive his Hard Trucker cabinets - but on a lot of recordings you can definitely hear that - at some point in the signal chain - he was also using Leslie speaker cabinets for chorus and vibrato...at least I think it's a Leslie - could be a Roto-Vibe; hence the reason I'm asking. An example of this would his solo from "Candyman" on Dead Set, or "Dear Prudence" from the JGB 1990 live album. So the questions I have are: A. Did Jerry actually use Leslies for his guitar rig or is it a Roto-Vibe that I'm hearing? B. If he WAS using a Leslie, was that being driven by the MacIntosh amps or was it the original amplifiers from the Leslie cabinet itself? On a completely unrelated note - I owe you a HUGE thank you. I'm sure you wouldn't remember, but you gave me a dynamite tip for flash chilling beer during the '85 Ventura shows (we were running a food truck right out of my pickup truck next to the backstage vehicle entrance - you and some other crew followed your nose to it; the ladies I was with were really cooking up a storm). The tip you gave me was tossing salt into the cooler with store bought warm beers and ice...kinda like making ice-cream. It worked like a charm and I was a very popular guy selling Budweiser slushies on a pair of 100 degree days! You have no idea how much that tip saved my ass at the time - I had just moved to Boulder and was down to my last $50 - thanks to that tip I easily made my $750 rent with cash to spare. Thanks for the tip - and for everything you do my friend!

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thanks Jimmy. We'll be live on Wednesday at 4:20 PT and try to get to your questions. Thanks for the kind comments.

[@connerjuckett8878]

No turn left unstoned!!!! New motto

[@bobschenkel7921]

Puffin' Tuff with Big Steve! Stories from the road, the best thing ever, except the shows of course. Thank You Mr. Parish, I mean Steve.

[@Phloored]

There are few things better in life than exploring & discovering nooks and crannies on topics that we hold dear. 🙏 Thank you Mr S.P. for an enchanting listen. Forever grateful sir. 🙏

[@kevindavidson8049]

Only Dead Heads know about the power of the sound gear, vibrations of the "Beam", and instruments delivering notes like cosmic rays into the crowd and the air. It was an environment. Thank you Big Steve for making it happen tour after tour.

[@anthonybryant7390]

Stories are the best. Thank you for sharing so many. Always Grateful! NFA!!!

[@anthonybryant7390]

Wish ya kept Alligator as well

[@enregalia]

So Steve, I first met you on the front steps of the Youth Hostel in SF near the Presidio in maybe 85.. that is a pretty benign story, but the classic was in '89. My buddy and I heard the first strains of the BMR encore @ RFK. We navigated PERFECTLY.. out of the venue, to the car, to the hotel, the Ritz in Georgetown and somehow you and Jer were already sitting at the bar. We were dumbfounded... How could y'all have beat us there? We never asked, but did you possibly take a helicopter? Anyhow, we were highguys on Molly and it was amazing to watch how Jerry got a vicarious buzz from us...I told the joke, "How many Deadheads does it take to change a lightbulb"? 💡 100...1 to do it, 49 to tape it and the other half to follow it as it burns out... You both got a good chuckle... you were babysitting I'm sure so he wouldn't get into trouble...However, in an amazing thing to watch, Jer began smoking "snipes" which were already smoked and stubbed out cigarettes in the ashtray.. Jerry was smoking our cigarette butts! Anyhow, we did have about 15 minutes of relative solitude.. then people started streaming in .. but it was an amazing slice of life for us!

[@David-mo5jw]

There is a crack in everything ,that’s how the light gets in

[@davidpetersen7091]

Love these conversations. Mr. Pete----------> aging hippie

[@JamTrax]

Big Steve, I only got to see a handful of GD shows (inc the last one in Chicago) but they are to this day among the best experiences of my life. They to me are by FAR the greatest live band in history. THANK YOU for this!!!! I'm completely geeked out about these! Love you man!!!

[@susiefairfield7218]

Happy Bicycle Day Big Steve & Deadheads ☮️🌈🔥🎶🎶🩷⚡🩵🚴‍♂️💨▫️▫️▫️▫️😸🤏💨💨🫶🏼🕺🌈💃🌹🕯️🫂😭RIP Dickey Betts

[@jimmymurphy7789]

Thank You Steve - You're such a From-the-Heart guy. Love You Bro.

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Love you Jimmy!

[@noturnleftunstoned72]

Jerry glows in the dark. That is a fact Jack.

[@thomasrose7713]

Can’t wait for the next installment ❤❤❤

[@paulsnith9979]

You are the man Steve. I need these stories. My 1st show was a Wall (5O yrs ago )

[@RobiRaw]

Love you and your stories. Jerry changed my life New years 1979 and saved my soul too.

[@GioYoLOL]

Joy of life. I love it. Thank you for sharing the stories and pictures!

[@brettgreen853]

I can listen to these stories all day. This is the old school way of passing down information from Generation to Generation. Nothing but the truths you guys lived. Must have been so spectacular especially with the white lightning sprinkled in all the time. Things kind of culminating early at Altamont at the end of the 60's, and then starting the decade anew a few weeks later in Boston at Tea Party. That was some heavy traveling. Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[@mattneapolitano7996]

Wow, Steve, your sentiments are beautiful and I hope you know are being reflected back exponentially. We love you, I love you man. You had some challenging roles... Completely understandable what I perceived back in the day as an aloofness/guardedness if not outright disdain for the throngs seemingly at a choking point. Well, job well done, as short of popping some deadheads in the face, I can't imagine all of the pressures you guys had to endure. SMH! Thanks man! For everything! The stories!!! Loving it man. THANK YOU!

[@richierugs6544]

this is so wonderful, brings tears to mine eyes my friend

[@Designation_Unknown]

Much Love Steve, Knew you through Ramrod and Healy. Long may you run.

[@grouffa]

Awesome !!! Another great episode, Big Steve 🌈☮️🌈

[@theeleven1700]

Hi Steve! We met in 74 when I was working at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach and you and Jerry’s band played a couple of nights. What great memories with you and Kid and Merle and Maria and Jerry. Wanna thank you for all your kindness and for sliding me into subsequent shows at the Keystone and Winterland.. Thanks and keep on keepin on!

[@chrisvaughn6381]

1974

[@michaeldavis4483]

Thanks Bro. Nice to know the love and kindness at the source of the magic. Makes sense. Peace man...

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thank you.

[@ericsaylor5722]

That we out here in the world get a chance to hang out with you is a treasure, and a free one at that. Thank you’s aren’t enough, but what else can we do? I guess just smoke along with the show, like always. ✌️

[@NorRepor]

I used to get Michoacan pot back in the mid '70s and it was some of the best I've ever had! Great memories! And I wanna hear more about STP (ep. 1), Steve! I was always curious about it but never had the opportunity. Don't leave me hangin'! LOL!

[@darthcheney7447]

Steve, the 9 years(1986-1995)I went to shows was never a dull moment.

[@GRATEFULFORTHEDEAD-zj3mb]

Thanks Steve!!

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Thank you.

[@aaronhudlow5649]

Really glad you are sharing these stories. Awesome. Keep em coming sir.

[@chloejessie1975]

Wow this is so awesome! You’re the best. Love you Brother ❤

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Love you too!

[@ThatOneLonelyGlove]

I love pot and I love Jerry amen thank u Jesus

[@ScarlettFire341]

This makes me Smile Smile Smile !

[@DavidAcevedoAlvaro]

Very Nice and interesting from the source . Thanks Big Steve !

[@jimp9031]

Great episode. So informative 👍✌️🔥💨

[@RobiRaw]

In the 70’s I was in the navy in Okinawa and a friend of mine had Dead tapes and lsd 25 and those were my first shows. Up till dawn go to the chow hall bath and off to work. Mostly flying looking for submarines. When we got home to the bay area 6 months later I was primed for my first show and was always in the front on the rail or very close. In the video It’s so Far during playing in the band the camera catches me and my girl friend grooven to the music. Wow so blessed to be part of that. Could always see steve up there helping Jerry.

[@RobiRaw]

@@jimjones-s7o “It’s So Far” a movie Jerry had a lot to do with producing

[@roberthamilton-i1x]

Thank you

[@BushyHairedStranger]

I’d appreciate hearing the late 70’s 80’s stories of those who got high with Jerry on his Drugs of Choice! Time to come out of the closet & admit the heroin & cocaine use & yes! share those experiences as they have as much importance as the pot! Cause as an old Allstar Professional Dope User, who survived, I know that POT was just not the DOC for most of these Cats! Of course we change over the years, dome of us got off the smack & coke, some off us didn’t we just reduced our consumption & became tea totalers-in order to stay in control of our pain, health. Anyway, I appreciate everyone here. My two cents-drug use is nothing to be ashamed of! The War on Drugs(us) was the problem! Fear!

[@stevengee3475]

I’m so glad that you’re doing this big Steve. You were the only reason I paid for Sirius. Now you’re giving me this gift. Love you dawg. Dr Steve in Allentown

[@psalm49]

Big Steve it was @ Ceasers Tahoe in 88 Jerry's mic went dead i remember you scrambling it took a few minutes Jerry kept his cool and didnt miss a note.

[@seanoconnor1260]

These are amazing additions to your weekly podcast man. I love it. You’re a wealth of information and I’m so glad you’re getting this out to everyone!!!

[@bobdobs23]

Greetings brother hearing you talk of the herb from those days, I keep telling people some of it was much better then what most people call the best with it’s high thc herb.today we’re missing the flavonoids , terpenes, that we used to have. By the by first saw the boys 68 Colombia quad than Fillmore east 69. I try to explain to people how close we all were than All the love smile smile smile kevin

[@ShaynAlmeida]

These are great Steve, thanks for posting all of this history, those of us who love the band/Music truly appreciate it. 🙌🏽🔥❤️🔥🤙🏽

[@edhorton2766]

Oaxacan was my favorite. What a glow.

[@tomkiefaber4297]

Bingo!

[@TheFool-l7i]

Man I was just getting off watching a 12-31-85 New Year's show I was at which I never knew there was video of until today and it was very powerful seeing those balloons come down etc etc but then I saw a link to Parish's video chat that is only 2 days old rather than 39 years and that was a whole lotta fun to watch too. Gonna watch the rest as well. Keep telling stories, Steve!

[@oldtoby2194]

Love you too, Big Steve. 🫂

[@jerrylorenz3014]

Yes!! I love this big steve thank you!! Please keep them coming 😀

[@jamesonhannon7280]

Awesome stories Steve! Sincere thanks!

[@jasonmain3323]

Hello from small town Canada ,I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by music from birth, the respect I have for the Dead and what all the boys accomplished is deep , I love bluegrass and honky tonk and good blues and rock and roll in that order ,the Dead gave me all that plus ,thanks Big Steve this is awsome and you are doing what no one else could share ,,,so gracefully I will be telling my friends about you

[@riverdawg3705]

As you said about Jerry being so gracious to people; I find most...not all...but most of the musicians I have setup and worked with to be very thankful and generious people.

[@tomkiefaber4297]

Steve, Thanks for all the great commentary. Thanks as well for reminding folks that the VERY BEST weed back then, was often these insanely good batches of 'Mexican'. In Baltimore we got fantastic Oaxacan & killer "Delores Delango'. The latter we cloned from seed and keep that clone chain going nearly 30 years. The stuff of legend. I chuckled remembering, as you did, how folks who thought they knew good weed would often toke up this stuff and wonder what it was 'treated' with? That was always funny to me, like... yo....settle down dude, it's just Delores.... doing her thang. ;-)

[@matthewmaurysmith2486]

This is so great!

[@reverendbarker650]

Been on the bus since 68, still things to learn from guys like Parish !

[@zingaview480]

This is the best! Thanks Big Steve!

[@enchiladasmith014]

On the bus since 69' and I love the history lessons and insight. Love you Big Steve. Keep on Truckin' on

[@littlejohn8143]

Thank you for these stories! Absolutely love it!

[@theshrubberer]

I'm.all in Steve, just lovin' this channel. Speaking of movies , any stories about yours and Jerry's favorite flicks? I have DVD of The Saragossa Manuscript , was that a favorite of yours too?

[@Lionheartgus01]

@BigStevesBackstagePass I’m so loving every minute of this. Thanks so very much for sharing. Can’t wait to Que up episode 3 in a minute! ✌🏽🦁❤️‍🔥🎶💨

[@dustindelome9254]

Awesome episode 🌹⚡💀

[@robertking7269]

Thanks for all you did then and now. The way you share makes feel like I was there. South side strut from hooter roll is one of my all time favorites and now I get to listen to in a new light. Thanks again and keep on sharing the music through your eyes.

[@chris7brook]

I got my backstage pass Steve,New Sub!! Thanks for all the cool stories Big Steve ! Looking forward to more cool stories!

[@BRIANJACKSON-b9s]

This guy is so awesome man he knew jerry groovy😂😂

[@evhbombastic]

Thanks Big Steve!!! You are freakin' awesome!

[@tommathews3964]

Love you too, Big Steve! As a former roadie (much lesser level) I really appreciate your perspective on gear, logistics, etc. I always paid particular attention to you guys at shows, what a great crew!

[@peteytwofinger]

enjoyed learning more about the band , i watched the first video and wanted to say thanks , but i was not aware that owlsey was distributing stp

[@BigStevesBackstagePass]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@travissmith9451]

It's great hearing you telling stories about life on the proud highway.

[@acffh]

STEVE! This is excellent! Liked and Subscribed!

[@JAMN2GD]

What up Big Steve? Thanks for sharing today. I think many of us wish we ran into your luck my friend.

[@jimmyhawke]

The Trashmen (not the Green Men) was the name of the band that Howard Wales was in that sang "Surfin' Bird". Bird is the word!

[@ceruleanbandit1692]

Thank you Big Steve!!!

[@michaelscott9504]

Thanks Big Steve !! I LOVE the stories man...

[@lifelongfan07]

Hooteroll, great sessions! That Strat was so cool! I saw Tudeschi Trucks and Los Lobos play his Strat at the Greek theater!

[@RobiRaw]

Remember the Stone in San Francisco and the Keystone shows in Berkeley and Palo Alto? Jerry would play with his band before and after and in between the Grateful Dead Shows At the Oakland Auditorium. Wow! Steve even slammed me up against the wall at the Berkeley Keystone one night because I was hanging around some Deady Chick who was causing the band trouble from time to time. She even stole some stuff from me. I was a small guy I shouted my dad is a Lawyer Steve said he did not give a shit. Finally he put me down and the show started. We melted the walls in those places during those shows. Wow! Loved John on bass he would let his cigarette ashes so long while he was playing bass.

[@theatomband1234]

I saw one of those stone shows, a couple of weeks before the Chinese New Years Shows at the Civic in '87. The Stone was so small, you could be dancing a few feet from Jerry...

[@Bunbeck-pf9iw]

I was very fortunate to meet John Kann plus Merl Saunders too ! Love it for Jerry to take me to his shows to meet different folks !

[@ryanmercer600]

Thank you 🙏 so much Steve

[@mikedolan1890]

Love you steve - love this format - Love it all! Let me know when your back in NYC!

[@bethebanjo9509]

Love you, too, Big Steve!!!!

[@psst...heyyou6508]

Great show!

[@LonePigsyAndCub]

Big Steve! You may be the only person who can answer this! I've always loved the groove of JGB's Everybody Needs Somebody to Love. It's different than the Solomon Burke groove, Blues Brothers and all others I have found - is Jerry's arrangement cribbed from some obscure version or is it original? Thanks!