There are two statements that you will probably never hear in regards to Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir:
1. He doesn’t know how to play guitar, and
2. He’s afraid to speak his mind.
Weir proved this out this weekend when he and Dead and Company, the newest version of the Grateful Dead that features three original Dead members and John Mayer, headlined the main stage at Bonnaroo, the long-running jam band festival held in Manchester, Tenn.
At the end of their two-part set laden with solos and good vibes, and bereft of songs with gun references, the 68-year-old Bay Area legend ripped into two politicians who had recently made offensive comments about the LGBTQ community. The concert was held the day after a massacre in Orlando, Florida, where a man opened fire in a gay night club, killing 49 patrons and injuring 53 others.
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“If you got gay friends, tell them “Sorry about what happened today.” You know, it’s funny — the Lt. Governor of Texas and a distinguished representative in the house from Georgia… Well, that guy last week was reading quotes from the bible saying how gay people deserved to die. And today, after the incident down in Florida, the Lt. Governor tweeted that, well, “They’re gonna reap what they sow.” I tell you what.
I want to ask you a question: Is there a difference between that mindset and the mindset of the folks in the Taliban or ISIS? The hatred and intolerance is the same. They may pull it from different books, but it’s the same f**king thing.
Register and vote. Get those a**holes out of there.
Earlier same night, Weir accepted the first ever Les Paul Spirit award, which is given to musicians who “exemplify the spirit of Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and music.” Weir called the iconic guitar maker Paul his hero when he accepted the award. The artist continued to show his spirit by giving remarks that were similar to the statement he’d make later that night, but without all the expletives.
