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    marye
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    Somewhere in Signpost, I think it is (or some other interview I haven't read for 20 years), Jerry is talking about the days when he and Hunter, newly sprung from the army, were living in derelict cars in Palo Alto (it is left to the reader to contemplate the halcyon days when there were derelict cars in Palo Alto...), mostly on canned pineapple liberated from the armed forces. Many's the time I've thought how different life would be for how many people if not for those days. Anyway, this is the place for fans of Hunter to congregate, pay tribute, fantasize about tours, and otherwise be darn glad we didn't miss this guy.

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  • johnnyg
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    It boggles the mind....
    when one tried to comprehend the talent of Robert Hunter. He sees a guy playing a harp in Barcelona, Spain and out comes Tenneessee Jed. Writes Terrapin in one fell swoop. Ummm, ok....and thats after all the epic songs on Workingman's and American Beauty. And as SirX states, he is one hell of a nice guy. The most unpretentious dude ever. I highly recommend the book "Box of Rain, the collected works of Robert Hunter". Happy Belated Birthday, Robert. And thank you for EVERYTHING. "Let my inspiration flow...." “The Omnipotent Grateful Dead!”
  • SirX1970
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    hunter book signing
    i met him years ago. he was so nice!
  • Sunshine-daydr…
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    Feliz Cumpleaños Robert
    Have a good day and thanks for all you have given us Bob W - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spanish Jam
  • Hal R
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    Happy Birthday
    Happy Birthday Robert, Thank you for all the words in all the songs of the Dead and the others and the solo work and the books of poetry and translations and for all the smiles and warmth and thought they have brought me. Thank you for coming to the Gorge in 2004 with the Dead and ABB. You sounded good. May the winds continue to carry your voice. I raise my glass with the Boys in the Barroom to your good health, happiness and creative flow. Hal Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
  • paisley
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    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
    For Hunter: Your words hit this young 18 year old guy at just the right moment in my life. I cannot express how much the lyrics changed my perspective on life. You really didn't turn out a bad one, And I'm forgettin' about Day Job purposely, 'cause I know that one snuck out just to remind us you were human...Seriously, I hope you can take a moment on your 66th birthday and that you, and all of us can reflect on the great cannon of work you gave to us.ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE! How many songwriters would give thier eyeteeth to have written Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Uncle John's Band,Crazy Fingers, Attics of My Life, just to scratch the surface? Without you, the Grateful Dead was a terrific band. Thanks so much for giving them something to say. Have a great birthday! Peace, Dan
  • c_c
    Joined:
    Happy Birthday
    Happry Birthday, rh. many, many more. thank you ever so much for the words and music. love and peace.
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Somewhere in Signpost, I think it is (or some other interview I haven't read for 20 years), Jerry is talking about the days when he and Hunter, newly sprung from the army, were living in derelict cars in Palo Alto (it is left to the reader to contemplate the halcyon days when there were derelict cars in Palo Alto...), mostly on canned pineapple liberated from the armed forces. Many's the time I've thought how different life would be for how many people if not for those days. Anyway, this is the place for fans of Hunter to congregate, pay tribute, fantasize about tours, and otherwise be darn glad we didn't miss this guy.
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Happry Birthday, rh. many, many more. thank you ever so much for the words and music. love and peace.
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For Hunter: Your words hit this young 18 year old guy at just the right moment in my life. I cannot express how much the lyrics changed my perspective on life. You really didn't turn out a bad one, And I'm forgettin' about Day Job purposely, 'cause I know that one snuck out just to remind us you were human...Seriously, I hope you can take a moment on your 66th birthday and that you, and all of us can reflect on the great cannon of work you gave to us.ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE! How many songwriters would give thier eyeteeth to have written Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Uncle John's Band,Crazy Fingers, Attics of My Life, just to scratch the surface? Without you, the Grateful Dead was a terrific band. Thanks so much for giving them something to say. Have a great birthday! Peace, Dan
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Happy Birthday Robert, Thank you for all the words in all the songs of the Dead and the others and the solo work and the books of poetry and translations and for all the smiles and warmth and thought they have brought me. Thank you for coming to the Gorge in 2004 with the Dead and ABB. You sounded good. May the winds continue to carry your voice. I raise my glass with the Boys in the Barroom to your good health, happiness and creative flow. Hal Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
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Have a good day and thanks for all you have given us Bob W - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spanish Jam
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when one tried to comprehend the talent of Robert Hunter. He sees a guy playing a harp in Barcelona, Spain and out comes Tenneessee Jed. Writes Terrapin in one fell swoop. Ummm, ok....and thats after all the epic songs on Workingman's and American Beauty. And as SirX states, he is one hell of a nice guy. The most unpretentious dude ever. I highly recommend the book "Box of Rain, the collected works of Robert Hunter". Happy Belated Birthday, Robert. And thank you for EVERYTHING. "Let my inspiration flow...." “The Omnipotent Grateful Dead!”
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....is a genius.........and an amazing poet.
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What can I say about Robert Hunter? His lyrics are rooted in the mythology and the deep spaces of American culture. The lyrics are weatherbeaten and yet still shiny. They are mysterious, yet still accessible. They speak, in equal parts, of joy and resigned despair, but the despair always wears a wink and a grin. The characters in Hunter's songs are something akin to Faustian heroes. Sure, there are deals with the devil, hubris, bad choices, but there is (in the songs, music, and us fans) the constant striving and trying for something better, which is inevitably the heroes salvation, as well as our own. The characters are the denizens of Steinbeck's "Palace Flophouse," Kerouac's "one's who are mad, desirous of everything..." They are also the lonely and jaded wanderers along Hemingway's "Big Two-Hearted River." They are the existential heroes seeking authenticity and open to the unbelievable POSSIBILITY of it all. I've always identified most with Robert Hunter. Possibly because I don't play a musical instrument (I'm sure air guitar doesn't count!), but I do play with the words. I discovered the Dead and the words of Robert Hunter around the same time I discovered Whitman, Joyce and Chekhov. At 14 I made no distinction between them all. Perhaps I was naive. But I don't think so. Thank you Robert. BTW, Why isn't Hunter in the songwriter's hall of fame? Yo Soy Boricua!
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Counting up the things that counton the fingers of one hand Music, love, and friendship and the rest of it be damned This stanza is from See You Again written for the Rhythm Devils from Hunter's journals, 10/26/06. Kind of says it all. Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
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does RH say that poem every year? Just wondering cause i have a copy of him doing the poem right before a new years show from back in the early eighties. I am not sure but i think it was 83into 84.
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Dr. Spasmodious is a yearly ritual, but there are the occasional subtle changes. It even was the subject of one of those Tim Truman comics, as I recall; I'll see if we've got it here.
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Thank you, Robert Hunter. Where the hell you been, by-the-way? "If the forms of this world die, which is more real, the me that dies or the me that's infinite? Can I trust my habitual mind, or do I need to learn to look beneath those things?"
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DNC usually.there is a link to that site on the community page. bottom 'right hand' (RH) corner. hoping for a Hunter tour one of these days, please! pretty please with sugar on top!
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Happy B-Day Hunter! wheel keeps turnin'
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Thanks for the transportation to transformation If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake
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17 years 2 months
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AND IT LOOKS LIKE I AM THE FIRST TO SAY SO IN 08. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB.
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AT LEAST I THOUGHT I WAS.
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whereis the oracle ! just thought about u bob, have a grate day! hope u r out paddling! peace
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Grateful to read Billy K. say that Mr.Hunter " is having a writing frenzy. He's sent us twelve songs!" NICE....and i believe i heard Buddy Cage on Sirius32 say that he had been in the studio with Dave Nelson with a bunch of new Hunter tunes....can't wait!!!!! Peace..Jergirl
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that's gotta be good news!
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Does Hunter Play Live anymore? I was just listening to Kutztown from 80 "Eagle Mall" with my wife last night and remembering how great he was. Wish one of the satellite radio stations would have him on live sometime.
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Hunter has mentioned that he has been writing lots of new songs fairly recently, so here is hoping he will hit the road again. I'm hoping for a Hunter, Rhythm Devils, Phil & Friends, Rat Dog, The Dead summer tour. (all together at the same venues onthe same days, for all day fest types of things) peace.
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would be nice although his style of playing seems suited to smaller venues. One of my frustrations with a lot of Hunter tapes is they are from bars and it's hard to hear him over the drunks yelling Jereeeee!
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I'd sure love to see him again too.
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16 years 1 month
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I saw him at The Agora Ballroom in Hartford , CT and would love to find a tape of it.
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17 years 5 months
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i'd sure LOVE to see him in PHX, AZ soon!
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I thought the venues the Dead played during the 2004 tour were 'just right', I saw Hunter open a few of those shows. during those shows he was really good, lots of anecdotes and off the cuff banter.
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It was so great I just figured it was the start of getting it all back together. Silly me. Whatever Hunter wants to do, I'm happy with that. But I'd sure like to see him again too!
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For me has always been that Jack O Roses his best album IMO and also that fantastic Eagle Mall have never made it to CD.
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though there are tapes of live performances. Brick by brick...
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17 years 2 months
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Calico Kaliope come tell me the news! I REALLY miss the journal. I have a serious RH void in my life right now, can anyone point me the way??
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16 years 8 months
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I think it's about time Robert Hunter was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame! Whoa-oh what I want to know How does the song go
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hello sir i m new this site but i like to read thanks and yes happy birthday :)---------- mark Jones ---------- Real Estate Search--Real Estate Search
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I see Hunter/Garcia listed as 2009 nominees to the songwriters hall of fame, for some reason in the category of "non-performing" songwriters. Don't know what the classification criteria may be...also don't know how to lobby for votes. Vote early and vote often!
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.....SAW ROBERT HUNTER AT THE ROXY-LA- SOMETIME AROUND 75-76-I THINK--AND LISTIN TO THIS GUY DO WHAT HE WAS DOIN---AFTER HEARIN THE DEAD FOR SOME YEARS PRIOR----WHOA-----THIS GUY I S T H E B R A I N S B E H I N D THE BRAWN.............. WHAT A LONG STRANGE------ WELL ------YA KNOW THE REST!!!! KEEP SMILIN!!!!!!! ALOHA ! DA ROACH
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Greatest Poet of all time....how could you put an award up for that? He has made my life that much better in every way. All his songs/poems remind me of a hot/cool summer night, breezes slightly passing through the night, yet so hot, that you need to cool off....so you jump right into the ocean, while steam streams out your pores and you come back to the fire only to notice that Robert already told you that. Cheers to you Mr. Hunter, you don't need an award to always have a place in my heart! Critter _____________________________________________ Will you come with me? Once in awhile you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right!
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Thanks for the link gratefaldean. I didn't even know they were nominated! $50 for a membership to vote. Wish I could do it but I'm saving for the Gorge. Hope they're in the Hall soon! Let there be songs to fill the air!
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Looks like the induction ceremony is June, 18th. so probably not much time left to vote. The web site doesn't give a lot of info. I love learnin GD songs and reading Hunter's lyrics for them. Without him there wouldn't have been a Grateful Dead. I hope he knows how much we love him for his contribution to the soundtracks of our lives.
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Just when I'm wondering how we'll hear from Hunter, thinking he should be reading on stage during Space this tour, I find out today that he wrote songs for Dylan's new album...