Grateful Dead

Hal,Great story about Pete and the wilderness! I have always thought he was a wonderful musician but did not know he had done work with the enviroment. I also liked the Jefferson Aiplane and Starship incarnations even into the 80's when I finally saw them on the Winds of Change tour. It occured to me that their logo mascot at that time was a wolf or maybe a coyote...not sure...Even though they were a little watered down compared to the 60's and 70's I still loved the show and I did like their 80's work. I liked Craig and Mickey and Grace sounded great. Anyway, if you paste the link it should bring up Winds of Change. The wolf makes a cameo appearance.*Several songs on WOC were written by Jeanette Sears...perhaps Pete's wife? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to3pTzHXANU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Flight of the seabirds Scattered like lost words Wheel to the storm and fly" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knew Pete was English, A friend of mine is from the same town as him, Guildford and knows him As far as i am aware i only saw him once live with Jefferson Starship at Knebworth in 77 Bob - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://spanishsunshinedaydream.blogspot.com/ Spanish Jam

In the fall of 1994, the environmental group I was working for - Native Forest Network put on a Temperate Forest Conference in Missoula, Montana. Forest activists from throughout the world attended. Pete Sears was one of the entertainers. One of the days of the conference there was a bus to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. There was an empty seat next to me and a man with an English accent asked if he could sit next to me and introduced himself to me as Pete, I realized it was Pete Sears. I have to say I was pretty excited, here was a guy that knew and had played with all the S.F. greats - the music that fuels my spirit and had also played on many of the classic Rod Stewart tracks. I had seen him play with Starship quite a few times. I admired his work on the keys, piano being my very first instrument. He was very gracious and a complete gentleman. I asked him lots of questions. He talked about the different players that I asked him about, of course, Jerry, Jorma, John Cipollina and Paul Kantner and Grace. But he was really interested in what I was doing and the whole forest protection movement and asked many good questions. We also just talked about our families and where we lived, very down to earth. We walked and talked on the hike from the road to the springs. I found a good pool and stripped down and got in. Pete was shy and needed coaxing to get in the buff and get in the spring. He was very modest and I thought it was hilarious. Here was a guy who had hung with some of the wildest folks in rock and roll and he was guarded about being nude in a hot spring. We had a great soak. It was a crisp fall day. On the mountainside, steam rose from the springs, I believe there was snow on the ground and the sound of the mountain stream below us set the tone. We really relaxed, once Pete got over his initial shyness he loved the spring. As we were sitting there in a complete state of bliss I heard these animal footsteps and some panting just several feet from my head. I opened my eyes and saw what at first I thought was a big dog but when I looked into its eyes they were very crazed and I realized that I was looking straight at a wolf -within arm’s distance. And it was looking at me. Holy Shit! There were not wolves in this part of Montana yet, even though they were coming in north of here from Canada. “Pete”, I called him, “Yeah” he replied. “Pete , you just might want to open your eyes and not move quickly and not act alarmed because I think there is a wolf staring at us.” To say that we were no longer relaxed is an understatement. We sat there in the buff in the pool, completely alert as this wolf was standing guard over us. Several minutes went by and we heard a human voice calling an animal’s name. A young man came into our line of view and the wolf ran over to him. I asked him, “Oh is that your dog? Is it part wolf?” He replied, “No it is all wolf. But don’t worry he is domesticated.” Various thoughts crossed my mind. First was that it sure was cruel to force a wild creature to be caged when he wasn’t running loose like this. Wolves were meant to be free and wild and as part of a pack. Second was that we were going to go back to the bus now and this guy and his wolf were walking back in that direction too. And we were going to be headed back with this domesticated but looking pretty damn wild wolf running back at the same time. The walk back was a very nervous experience for both Pete and I. The wolf was running back and forth on the path and wasn’t responding to its owner’s commands (How can you own a wolf?) (Not meant to be owned by humans) and was getting way to close to us way too fast and wasn’t what I would call friendly. When we got back to the parking lot, we saw the huge strong cage this guy had in the back of his truck to keep the wolf in. He got the wolf in the cage, poor thing, after much coaxing and persuasion. The guy did get a talking to by the activist community that had gathered back at our bus about how wolves were not meant to be domesticated and that if he let him run free in the mountains like this he would probably run some time. On the way back Pete and I were quieter and just let the scenery of being deep in the Rocky Mountains sink in. Pete played several times over the week. Once it was quiet acoustic grand piano background music as we ate supper in the ballroom. Quite elegant and sophisticated for our bunch – many whom like myself who had been lowbagger Earth First!ers. Second time he played with my friend Dana Lyons and his band at the ending show and we all danced like crazy. It was just amazing, Pete had just gotten a copy of Dana’s CD that day so he had only heard some of the songs and many he had never heard, but he played like he had been integral part of the band forever. Throughout the conference Pete and I held many conversations and had really bonded. He got little money for doing this conference and it was quite a bit of his time, but he was completely engaged and giving. One of the most gracious people I have ever met and a strong supporter of many peace and social justice and environmental causes. And an amazing musician who I got to know and share an incredible experience with. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake