“JERRY GARCIA: Secret Space of Dreams” is a fine art, hardcover photography book of Jerry Garcia, beginning from the middle of his career with the Grateful Dead and covering the last third of his life. Signed copies of “JERRY GARCIA: Secret Space of Dreams” are available now for pre-order at www.rockoutbooks.com. Pre-orders start shipping September 23, 2019. The new project will be officially released on October 15th , 2019. Jay Blakesberg is a San Francisco-based photographer, filmmaker and visual anthropologist whose work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Relix and many other magazines. He has worked with countless musical artists, including Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Phish, moe., Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, Carlos Santana and, of course, the Grateful Dead to name just a few. Jay attended his first Dead show in September 1977 as a 15-year-old kid. Thirty-seven years later, he went on to become the official Fare Thee Well photographer for the band’s final five shows. “Secret Space of Dreams”is his 15th coffee table book of music photography.
This marks the fourth time Jay and I have made some time to discuss his projects. While they all have been great body’s of work, this new one really is close to my heart (thru my eyes and ears) with the focus being Jerry Garcia. In “Jerry Garcia: Secret Space of Dreams”, we get all Jerry images and many great tales and quotes and an insiders look into what many never get to or got it see. John Mayer writes a moving foreword, with friend of the program David Gans dives deep into the character and charisma of the mythical non-frontman, frontman in his introduction and Dave Schools muses on the man, myth and legend portrayed in the pages of the photographic biography during his afterword. He thoughtfully reflects on Jerry’s ability to “display his own frailty in the service of the song,” and to connect with the audience as participants in the performance. Jay’s innate ability to capture Garcia’s magic on film is within the book’s 208 pages, he shares 139 photographs of Jerry spanning nearly 20 years, September 2nd, 1978 (at Giants Stadium) through the April 1995 making of the “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” music video. As always, Jay’s work is not just for Deadheads or Jam band freaks, his work let’s you into the life and times of an individual, and this one certainly has an important lace within the attics of my life.
