The smiles on the Grateful Dead dancing bears are long gone.
Six years after Jerry Garcia's death, a new website showcasing his art and music will launch Monday. Jerrygarcia.com isn't the first site devoted to the former Grateful Dead frontman; it probably isn't even the 50th.
But this website -- more than all the others -- illustrates the controversy that's swirled around Garcia's estate.
The website will showcase prints of Garcia's art, sections of his autobiography, Harrington Street, his music (solo work), and excerpts from Grateful Dawg, a film to be released this summer about Garcia's relationship with mandolin player David Grisman. Prints of Garcia's artwork and the autobiography are available for purchase at the website.
So why now, six years after his death?
"Before now, it didn't seem like it was the time to do it," said Deborah Koons Garcia, Jerry's third wife and co-executor of Jerry Garcia's estate. "(The website) focuses on Jerry as an artist, not just him as a celebrity. After five or six years of people glomming on to Jerry, creating careers for themselves in defining him, it's had its day.... (It's time) to start focusing on him as a creative force."
But people close to Garcia -- including family members, friends and the community of Deadheads -- aren't convinced that she has the right to exploit Garcia in this manner. The introduction of the website seems to be opening old wounds.
"I wouldn't say she has many friends in the Deadhead community," said John Perry Barlow, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead. "She's done some terrible things. I think most people are very resentful of the extent (to) which she has asserted herself over something that's not appropriately hers."
When Garcia died in August 1995, Koons Garcia disputed the validity of the $5 million divorce settlement between Garcia and his second wife, Carolyn Adams Garcia. Koons Garcia believed that Garcia had been coerced into signing the settlement, but she eventually lost the suit in 1997.
With the settlement completed, the beneficiaries of the estate, which include Garcia's children as well as Koons Garcia, are waiting for her to divide the rest of the estate. According to the family's lawyer, this should have happened two years ago.
"We've been given assurances that there were to be no business decisions before the distribution was completed," said David Phillips, an attorney who represents the Garcia family. "The chances are that (the website) is happening at the moment as a last act before she loses control."
Phillips said the family has been trying to establish a limited liability corporation to handle all of Jerry Garcia's property so that the assets can be divided fairly, but Koons Garcia keeps stalling the process. He said they're hoping to resolve the issue June 11 but can't be sure due to the history of her actions.
"The decisions that go with the website should be handled by all the beneficiaries," he said.
As of now, Koons Garcia and two local designers (not affiliated with the Garcia family) are the only people directing the website.
Along with the artwork, the autobiography, Garcia's music and the preview of the film, the website will feature announcements about upcoming CDs and art shows.
Koons Garcia also said that Garcia created more than 500 pieces of art in his lifetime, and that they were poorly documented over the years. She requests that fans or owners of his artwork photograph the work and send them to the website to be posted or to be included in an upcoming book on Garcia's art.
"We have a lot of requests for photos (of Jerry)," Koons Garcia said. "If fans have taken pictures of Jerry during the 30 years he played, they can send them in, and we'll pay them for the pictures. We'll also post them on the website."
Koons Garcia said taking ownership of the domain name wasn't an issue.
"Someone in Chicago had it, and they hadn't done anything with it," she said. "We called them up and told them what we wanted and didn't have to pay for it because of the case law involving celebrity names."
The Garcia family's highly publicized legal troubles with Koons Garcia has tainted some Deadheads' views of her, but others think that another site dedicated to their follower will only continue the Grateful Dead's legacy.
"I do want to give certain people royalty money," said Dave Sattinger, a self-proclaimed Deadhead who went to over 300 Grateful Dead shows, and who was Garcia's personal assistant up until his death. "On the other hand, there are other people who don't deserve it. Let's just put it this way, in regards to Deborah, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
One former Deadhead said it's sort of pathetic and mildly amusing that there's been so much squabbling over Garcia's estate, but that most people don't really care and will visit the website regardless.
"I might go and look at the art once, but these kinds of sites don't really interest me," said Gabriel Barkin, who went to 250 Grateful Dead shows.
"But there's always been a huge portion of the fan base that were basically yuppies and baby boomers with lots of money who are really interested in this. I remember hearing that the (Jerry Garcia) ties were the biggest selling Christmas gift at Macy's one year."
