Letter to Dead Heads: March 27, 2001
During the time that GDP was a partnership, and then later when it became a
corporation, we as a group always bought and maintained the instruments used
by the band on stage and in recording. We did this purposely. Because all of
the stage instruments were bought and maintained in the same way, we thought
we had avoided any arguments over who owned what. We all owned it all. All
for one and one for all. We always knew that the whole of what we were was
greater than the sum of its parts and that our musical legacy should never be
broken apart, even after we stopped touring. This is not the position of
"just another corporation," as some have suggested. It is a fact which was at
the heart of our business from the earliest days. None of the band members,
by common agreement, can give away our instruments or any other GDP property.
No-one's passing changes this. We believe we can prove that the Irwin guitars
were bought by and belong to GDP and that they should remain in our
possession. What Jerry actually said in his will was "my Irwin guitars," and
we feel and understand that that applies only to instruments he never used
onstage and are not the celebrated guitars Doug and his attorneys are
seeking.
Doug Irwin's motives and those of his lawyers appear pretty clear. They want
the money the guitars will bring at public auction. Our months of discussions
have centered on the claim that Mr. Irwin is broke and needs the money to
attend to his personal needs. While we actually do sympathize with Mr.
Irwin's financial problems, he is sufficiently desperate to also claim that
we (and presumably everyone else in the world) has no right to publish or use
any photograph of Jerry Garcia playing any of the instruments Irwin built
unless a copyright royalty is paid to him. If this were the case,
Fruit-of-the-Loom, which made Jerry's black T-shirts, would own GDP by now.
We have also rejected that claim.
Seemingly lacking faith in their legal case, Mr. Irwin and his lawyers will
doubtless keep coming at us in the public forum, trying to pressure us into
caving in to their demands by publicly claiming a moral high ground, but it
will eventually be seen that they have a narrow field of focus: their
pockets. For example, on Thursday, March 15, we were actually sitting in a
face to face meeting with Doug Irwin and his attorney, Doug Long, which was
supposed to be a good faith negotiation when we received information that Mr.
Irwin and his lawyers had, without notice, called a press conference for that
same afternoon. Mr. Long claimed to our face to be unaware of the press
plans, which was obviously not true.
GDP has said from the beginning of our discussions with Doug and his
succession of lawyers that the guitars belong to the fans and GDP has always
intended to place them on public display as a complete group so that the fans
could enjoy them. If Irwin and his lawyers succeed, they will be sold to the
highest private bidder and will likely disappear from view forever. The
simple fact is that none of the museums to which everyone would like the
instruments to go will be willing to pay the price Mr. Irwin believes the
guitars will bring. They have quoted numbers in the millions of dollars. GDP,
along with any museum, would disappear from the bidding early on. Even if an
acceptable museum was willing to pay what Mr. Irwin demands, however, we do
not believe that we should be forced to let others decide how our legacy, of
which Jerry was obviously an integral part, be presented. Because our right
to possess the guitars is now apparently in question, we intend to
immediately arrange for their display in the best venue we can locate and
provide at least this opportunity for the guitars to be viewed pending the
outcome of the lawsuit filed by Doug Irwin.
We do not mean to dishonor either Jerry's memory or the spirit of his will.
We have attempted to resolve this dispute with financial offers to Irwin. We
do not believe, however, and will not be convinced, that Jerry meant for his
instruments to be sold at public auction to the highest bidder by Doug as the
centerpiece of a '60s memorabilia sale and that they would thereafter
disappear from the view of the fans forever. Jerry was a modest man. He never
believed the hype about himself and we think he would be wearily shaking his
head at the prospect that the guitars are potentially worth what Mr. Irwin
and his lawyers allege they are. In any event, what the guitars are "worth"
to GDP has nothing to do with money. They are a part of the Grateful Dead
legacy and GDP will never voluntarily sell them to anyone under any
circumstances at any time.
We clearly disagree with most of what Doug's lawyer has written here in the
past few days, but we will not respond issue by issue. A few of the
statements made by Doug Long, however, cannot stand unchallenged. Long says
in one of his posts that no financial offer of any kind has been made to Doug
Irwin. That isn't true and he knows it. Long also alleges that GDP has
admitted that the Wolf guitar belongs to Doug Irwin and refuses to deliver
it. That is also false. The Wolf was listed on a preliminary inventory of the
Estate in which no band member or executive of GDP was involved. Ownership of
all of the instruments remains in dispute and Long is very well aware of that.
As we know you must believe, the very idea that GDP would place the guitars
in the hands of a "stand in" Jerry Garcia and that the Dead will thus play
again is simply ludicrous. Mr. Irwin knows that and his lawyers know that. We
have told them of our long-term display plans on virtually every occasion we
have talked with them. In contrast, they have simply dressed up Mr. Irwin's
desire to sell the instruments with a story about funding a school and the "f
ear of a fake Jerry" story in the past few days for public consumption to
gain sympathy. They want you to be angry with us. They want to pressure us to
do what they think is right. As you know, we have always done what WE think
is right and we are doing so here.
Finally, there is a theme in some circles that GDP is becoming just like
other corporations and that it is now run by faceless executives who do not
understand the Grateful Dead journey. The corporation is now, and always has
been, a democracy made up exclusively of members of the band. At present, the
directors and sole owners are Bob, Phil, Billy and Mickey. No one makes
decisions for us and no one is leading us down any garden path. We respect
your right to disagree with what we think is best, but understand that the
same people who have always made the decisions still make them.
Regrettably, this matter will apparently be decided in the courts. We believe
we will prevail and we also believe that we have dealt with Doug in good
faith and that he and his lawyers have not dealt with us in the same way. No
one detests litigation more than we do. We did not start this. But we must
finish it.
(Signed)
Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann for Grateful Dead Production |
