Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Tag: bill kreutzmann (Page 7 of 88)

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Percussionist

“Billy?”

“Yeah, New Brent?”

“I think Mickey fell asleep on me.”

“He’s been doing that lately. Bad case of CIN.”

“CIN?”

“Courvousier-Induced Narcolepsy. I keep telling him to switch to a lighter liqueur.”

“How long is he gonna be out for?”

“Anyone’s guess. Sometimes, it’s seconds. Other times, he’s done for the evening. Never know with Mickey. Or with Courvousier. Lotta variables at play here.”

“Can you get a roadie or something? He’s heavy.”

“Wait til he starts pissing himself.”

“What?”

DRUMMER WALKING AWAY NOISE

“Billy?”

“Bobby?”

“Oteil? Anyone?”

Where The Oceana Breezes Blow

Jeff Chimenti is whispering to Billy, “Sun’s going down, big guy. You’re getting real tired.”

OR

Is that a Real Housewife? If so, from which program/location? Whose flag does this Real Housewife pose under?

OR

When Josh stands in the middle, he looks like he’s the tall candle in a menorah.

OR

Mickey is befuddled; he has been thoroughly fuddled. Mickey has gone through the process of fuddling.

OR

Josh.

“Don’t call me that in front of the band.”

They’re the ones who called you that in the first place.

“What?”

You grabbing ass?

“No.”

Dude.

“No.”

Duuuuuuude.

“No.”

Dude.

“I’m grabbing ass.”

I knew it! I knew it, you grabasstic sumbitch!

“When you’re famous, they just let you do it.”

There’s my guy.

OR

Is there a wind machine? This is a fancy party, indeed, if there’s a wind machine on the blue carpet. (Blue for the oceans. Nowadays, the red carpet can be whatever color you want it to be, which I despise. A blue red carpet is self-contradictory, like vegan beef jerky. We don’t need forced diversity in carpets, Hollywood.)

OR

Bobby?

“Yuh-huh?”

You furious?

“Yuh-huh.”

Any reason?

“I’ll kill you, boy.”

All right, then. But what about here?

“I’m in a better mood here.”

Looks like it. What was all that before about? You frightened me, Bobert Weir.

“God bless ’em, but the randos get to you. 53 years of randos. Y’know, think about it: who in show business has been exposed to more rand than me? Maybe Duke Ellington. He, uh, played until he was 106 years old.”

Not true.

“His trombonist was 98. He could still blow.”

You are exaggerating.

“Okay, fine, yes. Get, uh, get the musicians off the greens, please. And, uh, bring Mr. Gleason another carton of Pall Malls.”

“Kind of you, Mr. President. I were you? I would’ve shot those hippies.”

“Y’know, Gleason, you’re right. Bebe? Where’s Bebe? Someone get Rebozo and tell him to bring his pistols.”

Excuse me. Excuse me, President Nixon. Mr. Gleason. What is going on here?

“You, uh, couldn’t come up with an ending to the post.”

“Terrible. You’ll never make it in show biz, kid.”

My What Big Skulls You Have, Grandma

“Thoughts on my Ass!”

Look at you all happy.

“New shirt. I love new shirts. It’s like taking your nipples on a first date.”

Sure. Whatcha doing?

“Ah, we got a week off, so I’m just hanging around Milwaukee.”

You stayed in Wisconsin?

“Hell, yeah. You gotta see the skank up here. I think it’s a byproduct of the cheese. Curds, whey, and skank. And the thighs, Ass! Solid. Solid like my cock.”

Ew.

“That’s what this skank is.”

We see what you’re doing.

“The thrill is still hot, hot, hot, hot.”

Wonderful.

“Farm girls up here. Norwegian stock. Sometimes they bundle me like hay. Just toss ol’ Uncle Billy around the room. Other times, I call down to room service for a milking stool and we play Dairy Farm. Hard-working skank, y’know?”

I never have any idea what the hell you’re talking about. Hey, did you read the new book about you guys post-Garcia?

“By that little shitfaced writer fuck?”

Yeah.

“Funniest book since Hitchhiker’s Guide. You read the part where I tried to choke Phil to death?”

I did.

“THAT’S funny. Not this shit you write. Ah, man, I nearly locked my fingers. I was so close.”

You two are in your 70’s.

“Old guys fighting is objectively funnier than young guys fighting.”

Okay, true, but still: the man has had several major medical issues and you leapt on him like a puma in an office full of people.

“You should’ve seen the lawyer’s face. He’d never gotten the Full Billy before.”

Uh-huh.

“Listen, Ass, that book proves what I’ve been saying for two fucking decades: it’s Phil’s fault.”

You literally just reminisced about strangling him.

“You read the book! He’s the asshole!”

You have physically assaulted the man on multiple occasions over the span of half-a-century! He has a right to dislike you!

“Ah, fuck him.”

Cogent argument.

CELL PHONE NOISE

“Hold on. I’m waiting on a call from some skank who does lumberjacking competitions. She’s gonna do stuff to my log.”

Sure.

“Billy the K here to blow you away.”

“That’s a great greeting. Top-notch. Who are your writers? I could put them on the payroll and have them feed lines like that to me through my earpiece.”

“Who the fuck is this?”

“This is Johnny Depp.”

“Gotta be honest with you, Deppy: I’m a Grieco man.”

“I respect that. Art is about following your heart and your balls, not your brain. My people tell me you’re in Wisconsin. I own several homes there, and a recording studio in Green Bay. The music scene there is about to explode. Can I buy you a home in Wisconsin, Billy?”

“Yeah, sure. Go to it. Buy me whatever you wanna buy me.”

“Yes! See, that’s the truth I’m looking for! The real world, the common man.”

“Yeah, I’m common as shit.”

“Exactly! You’re not afraid to tell me the truth because you’re not on my payroll.”

“Oh, is that an option? I wanna be on your payroll.”

“Done.”

“And a Producer credit on your next picture.”

“Associate Producer is best I can do.”

“I’ll walk away, Depp. I will walk away from this deal.”

“Fine! Associate Producer plus Story.”

“Done.”

“Let me ask you two questions: do you have any Hunter Thompson stories, and are you a fan of wine?”

“Let me give you one answer: yes.”

“Billy, I think this is great. Everything about what we’ve got going here.”

“Yeah, I’m the shit.”

“Now let me ask you one final question.”

“You can totally replace Josh in Dead & Company. You got my vote.”

“How would you feel about me…oh, you just anticipated where I was going. Huh.”

“I’m good with it. We’ve ridden that pretty pony into the ground. Crowds are getting smaller. Time to shoot some new juice in our dicks.”

“Yes! You see, I was listening to Spotify the other day and the Dead came on and I really started listening to the band for the first–”

“HEP! Hep hep hep hep! I don’t care about your Golden Road to Damascus moment. Let’s talk about that payroll thing. Do you do direct deposit?”

“I would assume so.”

“What about bags of cash?”

“That can be arranged.”

“Oh, this is gonna be fun.”

A Range Of Expressions

“Hey! Thoughts on my Ass! How’s your pucker?”

Tight.

“That’s what you want. Can’t have a floppy pucker, brother. No good for anyone.”

You look happy.

“Free shirt! Third best thing that can happen in a day.”

Wait, lemme guess: getting paid is first, and skank is second.

“You know me so well.”

I do. Gonna be in New York this weekend, huh? Any big plans for the city?

“Hell, yeah. No one knows New York like me. Peter Gatien used to call and ask for tips.”

Obscure.

“First, I’m gonna go down to Chinatown and eat some Chinafood.”

Yummy.

“Then it’s up to Times Square, where I’ll be taking my dick out at tourists.”

Predictable.

“And then I got a thing I gotta do.”

Are you talking about the show?

“Yeah.”

Playing Citi Field is “a thing you gotta do.”

“I played the fucking Pyramids. You think I’m impressed by where the Mets live?”

True.

CELL PHONE NOISE

You have a cell phone?

“I stole Josh’s.”

Sure. You’re probably not gonna like whoever’s on the other end of that call.

“Nah! You know me. I’m a people person.”

Uh-huh.

“This is Billy. I’ve got my dick out.”

“That’s disgustin’, you foul l’il pervert. Ah got a good mind t’ tell the whole congregation on you.”

“New phone, who dis?”

“This is Sarah Anti-Rodriguez Huckabee Sanders, lover of Christ and Donald J. Trump. Mostly in that there order.”

“Anti-Rodriguez?”

“My parents wanted people to be sure I wasn’t Hispanic.”

“Huh. Wish I thought of that for Justin.”

“Where is Josh Meyers? Is he hidin’ from me? His people do that. Anne Frank, for example.”

“I stole his phone while he was washing his pants. This is Billy. Hey, Huckabee: you wanna fuck-a me?”

“Excuse me, heathen?”

“Y’sound fat and angry, and that’s what I’m into this tour.”

“A woman’s appearance is not on the table, sir.”

“Not on the table? Okay, I’ll bang you on the counter.”

“Ah am a good Christian, you fungus-person!”

“C’mon, honey, we’ll give ourselves chicken-gravy enemas.”

“How dare you!?”

“I dare real good. I’ll dare right in that sloppy eyeball of yours.”

“Well, Ah never!”

“Well, you should!”

DIAL TONE NOISE EVEN THOUGH PHONES NO LONGER DO THAT

“Can’t stand me a liar, Ass.”

She may be the only person in the country who deserves that kind of treatment.

“Don’t get me wrong: I’d still fuck her.”

What wouldn’t you fuck?

“Dunno! Been trying to find out for 60 years now.”

God bless you, Bill Kreutzmann.

“Yeah, I’m the fucking man.”

Remembrance Of Drumz Past

“Hey, Mick, you remember when it was just two drum kits and we had to share a microphone?”

“Not really, no.”

“Okay. You remember when we put the Beast together and Phil threw a hissy fit?”

“Oh, that sounds fun. But I don’t remember that.”

“What about your children? Do you remember your children?”

“Just gimme a little clue. How many are there?”

“Two? Three?”

“Do any of them ambush pizza delivery guys and make the food cold?”

“That’s the Noid, Mickey.”

“Then I do not recall any of my children.”

“What’s the last thing you remember, Mick?”

“Asking you if my children ambush pizza delivery guys.”

“Just play your drums, buddy.”

“I love drums.”

A Shaft Of Light

And there it was. Glowing, damn near seemed to Billy–a golden dick, covered with jewels and possibly chicken nuggets–it shimmied in the light like a laser show that got drunk and fled the planetarium and crashed a bat mitzvah. He could not look away, not in this lifetime, not with these eyes and this mind: it had a gravity! My God, it had a gravity to it that no rocket could loose itself from, so what chance did Billy’s eyes have?

It called to him. Like a whisper, but meatier, and in the secret language that only Billy could understand. Plug your ears! No good, not gonna work. Run from it, Billy! No. The floors are tarry, and his feet are clay, and all the world is uphill from that–THAT BEAUTIFUL MOTHERFUCKER–which could never be obtained.

It was the one dick that Billy could never punch.

F*R*I*E*D

“Nearly beat him to death on four separate occasions, Ass.”

Hey, Billy. Bobby?

“Yeah. Could’ve popped his eyeballs out with my thumbs once. Parish stopped me, but later he told me that he wished he hadn’t.”

What did Bobby ever do to you?

“I can hear that hair dryer of his in my sleep. There’s something about beauty that drives violence.”

Only in the psychotic.

“PIttsburgh, 1979. I tried to drown him in each of the three rivers.”

Why?

“Weir doesn’t like to admit this nowadays, but he used to be a Republican.”

I heard about that.

“He wouldn’t stop with Reagan. Called him ‘Big Ron.’ Kept making everyone eat jellybeans.”

Well, jellybeans are all right.

“I got no problem with the candy itself. It’s just that he would watch you eat it while whispering ‘Morning in America’ over and over. That’s the kind of thing that gets to a man.”

I can see that becoming a problem.

“Made us watch Bedtime for Bonzo on the tour bus. No one wants to see that shit, man.”

But there was a monkey!

“If I want a monkey, I break into a zoo. Fuck monkeys.”

Okay. Well, I’m glad you’re all getting along now.

“We don’t speak.”

Good enough.

The Bus Came By And Everyone Got On Even Though They Were Expressly Warned Not To

“You need to get off the bus.”

“Down! Down!”

“Why won’t you act like the black kids at Wattstax six years from now?”

“Don’t worry about why I know what black people are doing in the future. Just get off the bus.”

OR

When Paul Simon wrote that line about everything looking worse in black and white, he must have been unaware of Garcia’s rainbow trousers.

Man Without Hat

“Thoughts on my Ass! Look at me! I’m doing stuff!”

You’re drumming.

“Well, somebody’s got to.”

Mickey not helping?

“He’s just shaking fries around in a fast food bag and calling it Salty Maracas. I got no idea with that guy any more.”

How about the clogs?

“Not this tour. He’s got tap shoes.”

Mickey’s gonna play tap shoes?

“No, he’s gonna chuck ’em at Bobby when he plays Lost Sailor.”

Makes sense. So what happened last night?

“I stuck it in some skank.”

Besides that.

“Was there a show? I dunno, man, you tell me. I’ve been on auto-pilot for a decade.”

There was a show, but it started to rain 20 minutes into the second set and you guys disappeared.

“Oh, yeah! I remember that.”

The Dead used to play in the rain all the time.

“Here’s the thing, Ass: the entire world’s gone pussy. Everyone you meet these days: biggest fucking pussies on the planet. So it rained a little and all the crying little pussies got scared and cut the power. Punks. Dead used to play through riots. I mean, we caused ’em all but still: show must go on and all that.”

Uh-huh. Couldn’t one of you at least have gone back out onstage and made an announcement?

“Here’s the other thing: it turns out we played long enough to get paid.”

So?

“So…fuck ’em.”

You’re the heart and soul of the operation, Billy.

“Yeah, I’m the tits, too.”

In Which Billy Learns A New Word

“Hey, Ass! Where’s Fucky?”

Fucky?

“Ding Dong Doodle.”

Who?

“Mister Clothes.”

Oh, Josh. I have no idea. Has he still not shown up for rehearsal?

“Nah, and my accountant’s getting worried.”

Not you, though?

“Nah, fuck him. But he’s gotta be here for us to get paid. It’s in the contract.”

You read the contract?

“I shoved it in a chick that works at a Dollar Store. Same thing, legally.”

I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t refute that.

“Seriously, where is the kid? At least when we used to go missing, we had good reasons.”

Such as?

“Rehab. Jail. Had a fight with the keyboardist and got on a plane 15 minutes before the show started.”

Right.

“What’s he doing?”

Twinks, I think.

“Twinks? Is that like Fortnite?”

No. They’re kinda like skank. But with dicks.

“Hey, some skank has dicks. They should tell you upfront, but they don’t. Some guys freak out, but not me.”

Because you’re open-minded?

“Shit, no. Because I flip ’em over and do my work in the backyard.”

Always a pleasure, Billy.

“I’M DRUMMING!”

You, too, Mick.

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