Yeah, you would think to not embarrass himself he would have learned to do it well before trying on stage
To me, it's just plain disrespectful.
It is. Half of their audience probably didn't even notice though
As I recall, attendance actually dropped quite a bit for a while. This was about the time they were kinda fucked by yet another manager and were in dire financial straits. They proceeded to bust out a handful of pretty shitty albums and Jerry would check himself into rehab for a heroin addiction. He had a (and this is eighties dollars) a $700 a day habit. So, he did all sorts of other stupid jobs and gigs.
The history of the Grateful Dead is pretty interesting. There are a number of good books on the subject, but I recommend Planet Drum by Mickey Hart as a good starting point.
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