New Memoir Recounts Jerry Garcia’s Final Days: “I Don’t Think He Thought He Had Much Time Left”
Len Dell’Amico’s new memoir, Friend of the Devil: My Wild Ride with Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead, recounts his experiences working as the Grateful Dead music video director and spending time with Jerry Garcia during the singer’s final days. Garcia, the frontman of the band, passed away on August 9, 1995 from a heart attack at age 53.
Dell’Amico shot their 1987 “Hell in a Bucket” music video and spent a lot of time with the band, befriending Garcia. As Dell’Amico recalled to Fox News, Garcia did not act like an entitled rockstar; he had a modest home and would often say he wanted to spend money on experiences rather than material things.
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Dell’Amico told Fox News, “We would go out to dinner and the manager at the restaurant would come over and say, ‘The meal’s on us.’ Garcia would always say, ‘No, thanks. We can pay for this. We have money. Why don’t you give a free meal to people who don’t have money?’ The manager would be taken aback by this, but Garcia was serious. . . . He wasn’t the type who wanted to talk about how great he was. He would get fed up with that. He wanted to talk about spirituality, religion, philosophy – he wasn’t interested in celebrity.”
He added, “I remember I came across the phrase ‘charm machine.’ That was Garcia. To meet him was to know him. And to know him was to love him. . . . He was the most well-read, intelligent and empathic person I’ve ever met. Many celebrities are self-involved and narcissistic. That was never Garcia.”
Dell’Amico recalled speaking to Garcia just a few weeks before he died. He said that if the singer was in any kind of pain or knew the end was near, he didn’t show it. He shared, “I remember us sitting there, reminiscing for an hour and a half about his early days. It was hysterical. We laughed until we cried. But later I thought, ‘Why was he talking about his early life on that particular day?’ I was in denial. He was getting stuff out that he wanted us to know about. He wanted to laugh with his good friends, because I don’t think he thought he had much time left.” He said that Garcia seemed just like his happy self right before the end, and hopes that his way of thinking inspires others to live life to the fullest.
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