28 — Friday, May 1, 1998 — North Shore News

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NCCK

The magic is reborn

From page 21

ered, a gift for drawing on everything, Just
like her father, she doodled maniacally,
revealing her shared fascination with the dark
side. As she grew, the walls in her room
became covered with winged, toothy, scaly,
firebreathing creatures, She looked bravely ar
things in her imagination that most people
hope never to sec.
Mountain Girl raised her children unlike
the way she was raised. She sewed all the
baby clothes out of the
brightest colors, she
cooked the freshest, most
nutritious food, and she
played funny, imaginative
games.
When the family had
moved to the small beach
town on the other side of
the magic mountain, she
found a black and white
pony to keep the tireless
Sunshine occupied. She
was a loving and induigent
mother, and Captain Trips
was an adoring father who
treated the children with a
sense of total equality
They set the tone for the
family atmosphere that
developed at all the
Grateful Dead shov
Backstage, there was alw.
a place set aside called the
Kids’ Room where games
were played or naps were
taken. People cared for
each other’s children as if
they were their own. This

Ken Kesey photo by Herb Green

Sunshine’s father Ken Kesey

(above) was the leader of the leg- . , .

endary Merry Pranksters. + Le Prats. -i: oe
Trixie Garcia

was the beginning ofa
great extended family.
Sunshine Kesey One summer, the Grateful

Dead toured Europe for
several months. Sunshine went to stay with
her father for the first time. He lived
Oregon, with his family, at the Farm. There
* were chickens, cows, pigs, and, to Sunshine’s
delight, there were horses too. Many people
would come stay at the Farm, bringing their
children with them, ‘This made for great
games of capture the flag. Sunshine loved
having so many people to play with, but
every time Grateful Dead music was play
big, tears of homesickness would roll down
her face.

Over the years she would return to stay
with her father’s family during che summer
months where she learned to buck hay and
weed the blueberries, She also stayed some-
times during the winter schoo! months,
where she learned to comb her hair and wear
matching polyester pant This caused
some culture shock. She hid grown up ina
sheltered world, surrounded by people who
honored individuality and self-determination.

Alt photss T.C. Waisman unless otherwise noted

THE magic bus Further set off across America.

Where she was trom it was OK to come
to school in a handmade poncho and your
favorite red cowboy boots. In Oregon,
amongst people who bought all their clothes
new and had Ding-Dengs in their lune!
stood out as a freak, She had to learn a
whole new language and a new way to be
acceptable. Although it was difficult, she
came out of that experience able to walk in
both worlds, which is more than can be said
for some kids who never left the insulated
world of hippies.

Sunshine was cight years old when her
sister Trixie was born. She arrived early and
had to sleep under a sun lamp to help her
grow. She still has the golden tan from that
lamp io this very day and rhe solemn brown
eves of a deer quictly soaking up everything
in sight.

Trixie was beautiful like her mother, and
Sunshine doted on her as though she were
her own baby. MG and Captain Trips mar-
velled ar their exquisite daughter and won-
dered whar gift this shy child carried. Behind
those mysterious eyes lurked a whim
spirit with an uncanny knack for design.
Little Trixie would tirelessly construct
arrangements of colored paper or cloth,
sometimes covering a wall. To this day, she
tends to make elaborate mural-sized, multi-
media paintin:

Trixie was five when trouble creeped into
their lives, Many people in the Grateful Dead
fell under the spell of a terrible curse. The
wizards wreaked their vengeance on those
thar defied them by casting a hook of hunger
into their bellies. The attlicted would shake
with a malaria until they took the wizard-
made medicine ne that soothed but
did not cure. Captain Trips was one of the

ms of this cruel curse. For the sake of the
children, he told Mountain Girl to move to
Oregon until he overcame the curse.

This she did even though it broke her
heart, The curse lasted a full seven years, and
it almost killed him. He finally collapsed into
acoma. MG rushed to his side and when he
regained consciousness it was clear that he'd
won, Fle said that he felt the thousands of
Deadheads praying for him and that it was
their streneth and love that brought him
back. He was weak from the ordeal, which
had turned his hair snow white, but he was
babbling over with anew childlike wonder
and excitement. He asked tor his family back

ANNABELLE (above) and Trixie
Garcia (right) will be at the opening
night reception for G3 with their
sister Sunshine Kesey.

and they happily joined him at the foot of
the familiar Mt. Tamalpais.

The Grateful Dead was revitalized and
free of the curse. The dragon awoke ina
happy mood. The band immediately put our
a new album with a song that has the
resounding chorus of “We Will Survive”.
This song spoke for all those who were
touched by the magic potion so many ye
azo, and who held onto that spirit of free

ant, inspite of the evil wizards’ threat of
retribubion,

The band enjoyed undreamt-of success
and popular he Gratetul Dead Farnily
thrived. The children flourished, grew up
and left the nest, spreading the magic of
music and art into the circles of their friends
and their new lamilies. Phe heroes are now
grandparents and their movement is taught
in history classes, bur the mayic doesn't
belong ta them. The message does nat die
with the flesh. The magic is reborn every
time a heart beats with a lave tor lite. And
we all live happily ever atier. The End.

Pare ee ae