The Dead

[thatguy]

Get ready to bid if you want Tiger

Billionaire's unreal pop culture collection up for sale, including a Jerry Garcia guitar


The Jim Irsay Collection, to be auctioned by Christie's, includes ephemera from Prince, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and the Beatles

Paula Mejía
Feb 12, 2026

Ringo Starr’s first Ludwig drum kit alongside a guitar used by John Lennon.
Max Touhey/Christie's Images LTD. 2026

On a summer night in 1995, the Grateful Dead played the second of two sold-out shows at Chicago’s Soldier Field. That concert is not often considered among the jam band’s most transcendent performances — yet the date, July 9, 1995, is seared into the consciousness of every Deadhead regardless. The show turned out to be Garcia’s last-ever performance with the band; he died a month later.

That evening in Chicago, Garcia wielded one of the five guitars that Doug Irwin hand-built for him: “Tiger.” In 1973, Garcia requested that Irwin, a longtime maker and repairer of string instruments, make him the “most extravagant instrument he was capable of,” according to the luthier’s website. The resulting Tiger, assembled from rare timbers like cocobolo and quilted maple, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl spelling out the guitarist’s name and an image of its namesake animal, took Irwin six years to finish. Garcia toured relentlessly with Tiger from 1979 to 1989 — and played the renowned guitar during his final night onstage. 

After Garcia’s death, Tiger landed in the hands of Jim Irsay, the late owner of the Indianapolis Colts, who bought it at auction for $850,000 in 2002. This week, Garcia’s beloved Tiger went on the auction block for the first time in over two decades — one of 400 items in Irsay’s sizable collection of music, sports memorabilia, pop culture, literary and Americana treasures to be sold by Christie’s. The Jim Irsay Collection, which is scheduled to be auctioned off starting in New York in March, went live Thursday morning.

Irsay, who inherited the football team from his father, died in May 2025 in Beverly Hills at age 65. His cause of death has been reported as cardiac arrest, though an FBI investigation is ongoing.

As a collector, Irsay gravitated toward ephemera that represented “generationally important, defining moments” like Garcia’s Tiger, says Amelia Walker, the head of Private & Iconic Collections at Christie’s. As far as pivotal pop culture items go, the collection is staggering in its scale. Besides Tiger, the auction includes Bob Dylan’s hand-scrawled lyrics for “The Times They Are A-Changin’”; the trumpet that Miles Davis used in his 1984 Montreux Jazz Festival performance; the worn Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar that Janis Joplin first strummed “Me and Bobby McGee” on; one of James Brown’s dazzling onstage capes, reading “Godfather of Soul” across the back; one of Prince’s instantly recognizable cloud guitars, in canary yellow; and an eerie poster advertising the Feb. 3, 1959, Minnesota gig where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were slated to perform. All three musicians died in an airplane accident en route to the event. 

Irsay’s collection includes yet another historical inflection point: the 1969 blue Fender Mustang that Kurt Cobain played in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video — the same axe that he infamously smashed over a bouncer’s head at a 1991 show in Dallas, which led to Cobain getting punched in the nose. The indentations from the rough treatment are still visible on the guitar, which he bought from a shop not far from his LA residence, and was in the studio when the band recorded “Nevermind.” Christie’s is estimating it will sell between $2.5 million and $5 million.

One item in the collection also nods to the exact moment when Beatlemania took hold in the U.S. The collection notably includes Ringo Starr’s logo drum head, which the drummer used on the band’s “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance in 1964 — an appearance seen by millions of Americans that marked the official start of the British Invasion. The drum head is one of a few Beatles pieces, which includes Paul McCartney’s penned “Hey Jude” lyrics and an affidavit for the Beatles’ breakup in 1970, with markings inside by John Lennon.

Over the years, Irsay lent out some of his items to go on tour throughout the U.S. Even Tiger was loaned out for exhibitions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2019 show “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll,” and Grateful Dead tribute shows. Irsay stressed throughout his lifetime that he intended these pieces to be seen by the public, telling reporters that he’d refuse even billion-dollar offers for his prized collection. “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul, so it’s like, I borrow it,” he told Bloomberg in 2022. “It’ll be someone else’s someday soon.”

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

JERRY GARCIA: A CUSTOM-BUILT ELECTRIC GUITAR, KNOWN AS ‘TIGER’
DOUG IRWIN, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 1979
Important information about this lot

• ■Post sale offsite storage
  

Estimate
USD 1,000,000 – USD 2,000,000

Registration closes: 25 daysBidding starts: 25 days

[Greg]

You should totally get that.

[thatguy]

https://www.metrosiliconvalley.com/2026-...ad-jersey/

South Bay soccer scene honors its hippie history

Feb 18, 2026
San Jose Earthquakes Unite Punk and Hippie Fans with 2026 Grateful Dead Jersey
DEADHEAD San Jose Earthquakes’ announces their new kit inspired by the city’s hippie roots. Courtesy San Jose Earthquakes

Only the San Jose Earthquakes can unite the punks and the hippies.

With their 2026 home opener coming up this weekend, the Quakes made several recent announcements, including a brand-new secondary kit themed after the Grateful Dead. This is a landmark collaboration for several reasons.
However, first we need to step back and look at last year’s collaboration. The 2025 jersey was designed in partnership with Campbell native and punk rock icon Lars Frederiksen of Rancid. Featuring handwritten and newspaper-clipped artwork, the jersey depicted the DIY ethos of punk flyers and the blue-collar makeup of many fans in the Bay Area, especially the subcultures that spark the most interesting creativity in the region. Frederiksen grew up here, and became indoctrinated into punk rock and soccer, all here. In 2014, he even wrote the club’s theme song, a tune the Quakes still blast at kickoff every game.

There’s a long tradition of rock stars incorporating authentic football fandom into their shtick, not just for imagery or fashion, but actual fandom, especially in Europe or Latin America, where people are born into the culture of their hometown club. Anyone who watched the Oasis stadium concerts last year saw the cut-out of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola behind Noel Gallagher’s guitar rig. Lars isn’t the only one.

Speaking of Europe, there would be no professional team in the South Bay at all had the former Yugoslavia not produced Milan Mandaric, who bailed from Tito’s regime to become a Silicon Valley electronics entrepreneur in the early ’70s, when the very term ‘Silicon Valley’ was just about to gain traction. Milan then launched the Quakes after battling clueless league executives who wanted the club named after San Francisco. Milan saw promise in San Jose, as a destination. We have him to thank. Sadly, he passed away last year. 

Milan represented the best of that era of Silicon Valley, some might say the original Silicon Valley, you know, when entrepreneurs wanted to improve society, rather than profit by intentionally polarizing society.
But I digress.

Following last year’s punk-inspired jerseys, now, in 2026, the hippies can have their turn. A new San Jose Earthquakes kit, replete with blue and black tie-dyed stylings, pays homage to the Grateful Dead. The home opener is this weekend, Feb. 21, but the Grateful Dead jersey will debut the following weekend, Feb. 28, as part of a Grateful Dead theme night.

Thanks to the folks at San Jose Rocks, legendary psychedelic artist Stanley Mouse even provided a commemorative poster for the fans to take home. For context, the promotional video montage and the announcements all reference the band’s first performance as the Grateful Dead, which took place at one of Ken Kesey’s acid tests in downtown San Jose, in 1965. 

No other club in Major League Soccer can pull this off, that is, to incorporate both its own punk rock and hippie roots. No team in LA, New York or Miami would have cared enough.

Generally speaking, punks and hippies are not on the same wavelength. Nobody hates the Grateful Dead more than the punks do. But this is why the current moment has so much potential. 

I see almost everything through an anarcho-Taoist tea-mystic lens, so to me this makes all the sense in the world. A deeper truth is revealing itself here. The San Jose Earthquakes are harmonizing the polarities within themselves: the punk half and the hippie half. Rather than viewing those polarities as opposites, we can understand them as complementary, like yin and yang. We can transcend all duality. The ancient alchemists understood these things centuries ago. Taoist hermits knew it 2,000 years ago. I have a feeling the Deadheads will understand this much more than the punks will.

Nevertheless, this entire adventure is another example of how event producers, non-profits, government officials, sports teams and influencers in San Jose are all collaborating unlike ever before. Civic pride is a thing these days. It didn’t used to be.

As the San Jose Earthquakes head coach and sporting director, part of Bruce Arena’s job is to unite the punks and the hippies. If he can do that, he can do anything. Then the team will begin its journey of self-transformation

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Of course the Dead were in the Epstein files...

Epstein Files Show Ponzi Scheme Claimed To Resell Dead & Company, Fare Thee Well, Coachella Tickets
James Sissler | Sunday, February 1st, 2026
Image: Public court records via U.S. Department of Justice

---

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that evidence suggests the ticket resale deals described in the Epstein files were likely fabricated as part of a Ponzi scheme, and no actual ticket transactions appear to have occurred.

Official court documents released among the Epstein files contain claims that a ticket resale operation profited from the Grateful Dead‘s 50th anniversary Fare Thee Wellshows, Dead & Company‘s 2015 fall tour, and Coachella—though the available evidence strongly suggests the deals were fabricated to defraud investors.
The documents, which were made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, show email correspondence from December 2015 in which two businessmen—Kevin Law and Joe Meli—pitched Epstein on investing $30 million in their ticket resale business.
Meli was later arrested in January 2017 for running a ticket resale Ponzi scheme in which he falsely claimed to have agreements to purchase tickets in bulk to Hamiltonand other events, then used funds from new investors to pay fabricated “returns” to earlier investors, creating the illusion of a profitable business when no actual ticket transactions were occurring. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to 78 months in prison in April 2018. According to the Department of Justice, the scheme operated between 2015 and 2017, suggesting the deals mentioned in the emails may have been similarly fabricated as part of the investment pitch.
In the emails, Law claims the operation purchased large quantities of tickets to high-demand concerts and events, then resold them at significant markups. The proposal outlined that Epstein would receive an 8% preferred return on his investment, then split profits 50/50 on returns above that threshold.
The pitch included detailed results from three prior deals the operation allegedly conducted. The emails state they purchased $1.5 million worth of tickets for the Grateful Dead 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well shows (7,500 tickets at an average of $200 each) and sold them for $4.5 million—an average price of $600 per ticket—resulting in a 300% return.
According to the documents, the operation also purchased $5 million in tickets (25,000 tickets at an average price of $200) for Dead & Company’s 2015 fall tour. As of the December 7th, 2015 email, they reported selling 13,000 tickets for $3.8 million at an average price of $293 per ticket. The emails indicated the tour was still ongoing with proceeds expected to be collected by February 15th, 2016.
The emails state the operation purchased the Dead & Company tickets in June 2015. However, Dead & Company did not publicly announce their tour until August 2015. This timeline raises serious doubts about whether the transactions occurred at all.
The pitch also referenced purchasing $1 million in artist passes for Coachella and reselling them for $2.2 million.
Given Meli’s conviction for fabricating similar deals during this exact time period and the implausibility of the Dead & Company timeline, it is likely these transactions never actually occurred, and no tickets were ever purchased or resold.
The proposal went on to detail upcoming opportunities for Hamilton and Adele tickets, projecting a total return of approximately $47 million on a $30 million investment over two years across 22 deals.
The emails appear to indicate that Epstein had at least one prior conversation with Kevin Law about the business before receiving this formal pitch. In the December 7th, 2015 email, Law wrote: “Per our conversation last week regarding the factoring business, here is a proposal for you to become our partner in this business alongside the founder, Joe Meli, who you’ve met previously with me.”
The documents show Epstein forwarded the pitch to his accountant Richard Kahn on December 7th, 2015, the same evening he received it. Kahn advised against the investment, citing concerns that it looked “like a bit of a ponzi sheme” [sic], and Epstein appears to have passed on the opportunity. Then on January 28th, 2017, the day after Meli was arrested, Epstein forwarded the original pitch to Faith Kates, co-founder of Next Model Management.
The documents contain no indication that the artists, their management, or venues were involved in or aware of the scheme.
All the documents are publicly available on the DOJ’s website.

[thatguy]

A History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs: Episode 165 - Dark Star by The Grateful Dead

https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-165...eful-dead/

I listened to the podcast episode while on my way to/from DakhaBrakha playing at the Presidio Theater and earlier when I was running errands and doing chores. It's a long one. Probably the longest one so far in the series at about 4.5hours. I didn't select it because of the topic, I've just been listening to this podcast from episode one and it just happened to be the next one that was queued up. The previous one was about the Velvet Underground (who also went by The Warlocks for a brief period)...

I've really been enjoying the series. The "song" noted in the episode title is really just an "in" to discuss the story of an important band or bands, the artists, what was going on in the culture, technology, etc. these are really deep dives and I've learned a lot along the way. 

I enjoy the host's narrative style. Also, I should note, that this podcast series is ad-free which is tremendous. In this episode, he explains Haight-Ashbury by first discussing the evolution of transportation in the US...it's a DEEP DIVE.

Here's part of the opening for this particular episode:

This is an episode several of my listeners have been looking forward to, but it’s one I’ve been dreading writing, because this is an episode — I think the only one in the series — where the format of the podcast simply *will not* work. Were the Grateful Dead not such an important band, I would skip this episode altogether, but they’re a band that simply can’t be ignored, and that’s a real problem here.

Because my intent, always, with this podcast, is to present the recordings of the artists in question, put them in context, and explain why they were important, what their music meant to its listeners. To put, as far as is possible, the positive case for why the music mattered *in the context of its time*. Not why it matters now, or why it matters to me, but why it matters *in its historical context*. Whether I like the music or not isn’t the point. Whether it stands up now isn’t the point. I play the music, explain what it was they were doing, why they were doing it, what people saw in it. If I do my job well, you come away listening to “Blue Suede Shoes” the way people heard it in 1956, or “Good Vibrations” the way people heard it in 1966, and understanding why people were so impressed by those records.

That is simply *not possible* for the Grateful Dead.

I can present a case for them as musicians, and hope to do so. I can explain the appeal as best I understand it, and talk about things I like in their music, and things I’ve noticed. But what I can’t do is present their recordings the way they were received in the sixties and explain why they were popular. Because every other act I have covered or will cover in this podcast has been a *recording* act, and their success was based on records. They may also have been exceptional live performers, but James Brown or Ike and Tina Turner are remembered for great *records*, like “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” or “River Deep, Mountain High”. Their great moments were captured on vinyl, to be listened back to, and susceptible of analysis.

That is not the case for the Grateful Dead, and what is worse *they explicitly said, publicly, on multiple occasions* that it is not possible for me to understand their art, and thus that it is not possible for me to explain it.

The Grateful Dead did make studio records, some of them very good. But they always said, consistently, over a thirty year period, that their records didn’t capture what they did, and that the only way — the *only* way, they were very clear about this — that one could actually understand and appreciate their music, was to see them live, and furthermore to see them live while on psychedelic drugs.

[Excerpt: Grateful Dead crowd noise]

I never saw the Grateful Dead live — their last UK performance was a couple of years before I went to my first ever gig — and I have never taken a psychedelic substance. So by the Grateful Dead’s own criteria, it is literally impossible for me to understand or explain their music the way that it should be understood or explained. In a way I’m in a similar position to the one I was in with La Monte Young in the last episode, whose music it’s mostly impossible to experience without being in his presence. This is one reason of several why I placed these two episodes back to back.

Of course, there is a difference between Young and the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead allowed — even encouraged — the recording of their live performances. There are literally thousands of concert recordings in circulation, many of them of professional quality. I have listened to many of those, and I can hear what they were doing. I can tell you what *I* think is interesting about their music, and about their musicianship. And I think I can build up a good case for why they were important, and why they’re interesting, and why those recordings are worth listening to. And I can certainly explain the cultural phenomenon that was the Grateful Dead.

But just know that while I may have found *a* point, *an* explanation for why the Grateful Dead were important, by the band’s own lights and those of their fans, no matter how good a job I do in this episode, I *cannot* get it right.

And that is, in itself, enough of a reason for this episode to exist, and for me to try, even harder than I normally do, to get it right *anyway*. Because no matter how well I do my job this episode will stand as an example of why this series is called “*A* History”, not *the* history. Because parts of the past are ephemeral. There are things about which it’s true to say “You had to be there”. I cannot know what it was like to have been an American the day Kennedy was shot, I cannot know what it was like to be alive when a man walked on the Moon. Those are things nobody my age or younger can ever experience. And since August the ninth, 1995, the experience of hearing the Grateful Dead’s music the way they wanted it heard has been in that category.

And that is by design. Jerry Garcia once said “if you work really hard as an artist, you may be able to build something they can’t tear down, you know, after you’re gone… What I want to do is I want it here. I want it now, in this lifetime. I want what I enjoy to last as long as I do and not last any longer. You know, I don’t want something that ends up being as much a nuisance as it is a work of art, you know?”

And there’s another difficulty. There are only two points in time where it makes sense to do a podcast episode on the Grateful Dead — late 1967 and early 1968, when the San Francisco scene they were part of was at its most culturally relevant, and 1988 when they had their only top ten hit and gained their largest audience. I can’t realistically leave them out of the story until 1988, so it has to be 1968. But the songs they are most remembered for are those they wrote between 1970 and 1972, and those songs are influenced by artists and events we haven’t yet covered in the podcast, who will be getting their own episodes in the future.  I can’t explain those things in this episode, because they need whole episodes of their own. I can’t not explain them without leaving out important context for the Grateful Dead.

So the best I can do is treat the story I’m telling as if it were in Tralfamadorian time. All of it’s happening all at once, and some of it is happening in different episodes that haven’t been recorded yet. The podcast as a whole travels linearly from 1938 through to 1999, but this episode is happening in 1968 and 1972 and 1988 and 1995 and other times, all at once. Sometimes I’ll talk about things as if you’re already familiar with them, but they haven’t happened yet in the story. Feel free to come unstuck in time and revisit this time after episode 167, and 172, and 176, and 192, and experience it again.

So this has to be an experimental episode. It may well be an experiment that you think fails. If so, the next episode is likely to be far more to your taste, and much shorter than this or the last episode, two episodes that between them have to create a scaffolding on which will hang much of the rest of this podcast’s narrative. I’ve finished my Grateful Dead script now. The next one I write is going to be fun:

I enjoyed the episode's quirky experimental form, bouncing around (totally not the normal format), learned a few things along the way. 

A recommended listen (or you can just read the transcript at the link above)

--tg

[King Bob]

I enjoyed his Vonnegut reference.