Filming the Grateful Useless’s MTV-era music video for “Hell in a Bucket” was one lengthy, unusual journey.
Len Dell’Amico, the band’s “movie and video man,” has written a brand new memoir, “Friend of the Devil: My Wild Ride with Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead.” He detailed what it was like witnessing “love, pleased chaos and pot – a lot of pot” from 1980 till frontman Garcia died in 1995.
The filmmaker directed the 1987 music video. He claimed to Fox Information Digital that the duck featured within the video sporting a leather-based collar had gotten drunk on champagne throughout filming.
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Len Dell’Amico (proper) was pals with Jerry Garcia from 1980 till the star’s demise in 1995. (Len Dell’Amico)
“I believe [founding member] Bob Weir was accountable,” Dell’Amico chuckled. “He had simply come out of trip. . . . He knew we had been making a video. He knew how vital it was. I bear in mind Mountain Girl, Garcia’s wife [at the time], noticed him and mentioned, ‘Bobby, he’s a god now.’ He was so handsome, in such nice form and taking part in nice.”
“All of us knew that we had been capturing in a bar,” Dell’Amico shared. “While you do a shoot in a bar, you rent someone who is available in and places in pretend bottles. You don’t need free alcohol on a set. And I had unfold the phrase – no booze. We had been going to have pretend champagne. It by no means got here up.”
Bob Weir (left) and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Useless carry out at Alpine Valley Amphitheatre on June 26, 1987, in East Troy, Wisconsin. (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Photos)
“However then I noticed in actual time that the duck was consuming,” he famous. “I mentioned, ‘Oh, that’s improbable! It seems to be like we had a skilled duck.’ After which I noticed how he progressively turned out of it. I simply thought he acquired drained, nevertheless it seemed like he acquired plastered. And that’s humorous.”
Len Dell’Amico directed the 1987 music video “Hell in a Bucket.” (Anne Milman)
According to Dell’Amico’s book, it was Weir who got here up with the concept of getting the duck within the video, to everybody’s delight. He additionally requested a tiger. A nine-foot-long, 400-lb. Bengal tiger was introduced in.
Jerry Garcia is seen right here throughout an interview on MTV at Teletronic Studios in New York Metropolis. (Gary Gershoff/Getty Photos)
Dell’Amico described that in filming, the duck had turn out to be interested in what was in Weir’s glass. He mentioned it saved going backwards and forwards for sips. Finally, it put its complete invoice in and had “a pleasant pull on it.” At one level, the duck was “slumped over, out of it.” For Dell’Amico it was “extremely luck” to get a plausible efficiency.
However then the subsequent day, he acquired an “irate” cellphone name from the duck’s coach.
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Bob Weir performing with the Grateful Useless on the Oakland Coliseum in California on December 31, 1987. (Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos)
“He was very upset,” Dell’Amico recalled to Fox Information Digital. “He saved saying, ‘He acquired drunk!’ He was very emotional. He wasn’t mad at me. He was emotional as a result of trainers love their animals. I simply saved saying, ‘No, that may’t be.’”
“I made some cellphone calls,” mentioned Dell’Amico. “I discovered that Weir had given someone 50 bucks to get him actual champagne. I bear in mind I had a bottle of champagne in my hand on set. I assumed it was a prop! So, I needed to apologize to the coach profusely. How may I make this proper? The coach defined that the animal was skilled on white grapes. That’s why it went crazy for champagne.”
From left: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Useless performing on the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California on July 15, 1984. (Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos)
“Effectively, the duck recovered,” mentioned Dell’Amico. “And the coach mentioned he was going to coach her on different issues for some time. So, it had a cheerful ending.”
Len Dell’Amico’s e book, “Good friend of the Satan: My Wild Trip with Jerry Garcia and Grateful Useless,” is out now. (Weldon Owen)
In response to Dell’Amico’s e book, the duck turned repelled by white grapes.
“We uncover that the duck-in-the-car subplot, the place Bob and [a] dominatrix drive round whereas the duck samples Bob’s glass, ending within the duck slumped over handed out, is refined, however works spectacularly, hilariously, when you discover it,” he wrote.
Len Dell’Amico was behind the scenes for “Hell In A Bucket” and “Throwing Stones” to advertise the band’s hit album, “In The Darkish.” (Picture by Michael Putland/Getty Photos)
Fox Information Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Weir, 77, for remark.
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Bob Weir attends the 67th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Area on February 2, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Photos)
Dell’Amico admitted that he had a much less worrying time befriending Garcia. He described him as soft-spoken and comical. His surprisingly modest house was “like a university dorm room” with a handful of flannel shirts and pants in his closet and overflowing ashtrays close by. Garcia would typically comment, “I would somewhat do issues than have issues.”
“I used to be shocked by the depth of his humility and insistence on being handled like a daily individual,” mentioned Dell’Amico.
The Grateful Useless (clockwise: Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Invoice Kreutzmann, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Mickey Hart and Jerry Garcia) pose for {a photograph} in 1970. (Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty Photos)
“You would possibly suppose that’s simple, nevertheless it’s not once you’re that well-known. That is somebody who couldn’t cover. Mick Jagger may put on his hat with the brim down and transfer across the public with out being acknowledged an excessive amount of. However he was a performer. In a means, he was nonetheless performing even on the sidewalk. However poor Garcia, that face, except he shaved his head and wore a toupee . . . he wasn’t going to do this.”
Jerry Garcia on the Mountain Aire Music Competition on August 23, 1987, in Calavaras, California. (Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Photos)
“We’d exit to dinner and the supervisor on the restaurant would come over and say, ‘The meal’s on us,’” he shared. “Garcia would at all times say, ‘No, thanks. We will pay for this. Now we have cash. Why don’t you give a free meal to individuals who don’t have cash?’ The supervisor could be stunned by this, however Garcia was severe. . . . He wasn’t the sort who wished to speak about how nice he was. He would get fed up with that. He wished to speak about spirituality, faith, philosophy – he wasn’t excited by celeb.”
Dell’Amico identified that “no person may very well be on dangerous phrases with Garcia.”
Len Dell’Amico mentioned that “no person may very well be on dangerous phrases with Garcia.” (Picture by Malcolm Lubliner/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos)
“You couldn’t assist however love the man regardless of his flaws,” he defined. “And he had a whole lot of flaws. He was a touring musician attempting to keep up a household. That’s not simple.”
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Jerry Garcia, singer of The Grateful Useless, and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac hugging. (LGI Inventory/Corbis/VCG through Getty Photos)
“I bear in mind I got here throughout the phrase ‘appeal machine,'” Dell’Amico mirrored. “That was Garcia. To satisfy him was to know him. And to know him was to like him. . . . He was essentially the most well-read, clever and empathic individual I’ve ever met. Many celebrities are self-involved and narcissistic. That was by no means Garcia.”
Dell’Amico mentioned he final spoke to Garcia a few weeks before his death. They reminisced concerning the previous, and the nice instances. Trying again, Dell’Amico questioned whether or not Garcia knew he wouldn’t be round for for much longer.
Jerry Garcia performs pedal metal guitar with the Grateful Useless in 1987. Len Dell’Amico suspected that Garcia knew his time was temporary. (Picture by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos)
“He knew he had coronary heart illness,” Dell’Amico defined. “I don’t know for the way lengthy, as a result of he by no means talked about it. Why? As a result of he didn’t complain about something, ever. His philosophy was, ‘Complainers are jerks. Be grateful for what you might have now, no matter it’s, how little or massive it’s. Since you’re right here.’
Jerry Garcia lived very modestly regardless of his fame and fortune, mentioned Len Dell’Amico. (Clayton Name/Redferns/Getty Photos)
“That is somebody who used to reside in a automobile. He had hit the jackpot in his life. It was the celebrity and a spotlight that introduced potential unhappiness. He simply wished to be himself. . . . His philosophy was that animals aren’t afraid of dying, so why ought to we? What good is concern, ever? And he was essentially the most fearless individual I’ve ever identified.”
Len Dell’Amico mentioned he and Jerry Garcia had spoken concerning the previous throughout their remaining assembly collectively. (Clayton Name/Redferns/Getty Photos)
“I bear in mind us sitting there, reminiscing for an hour and a half about his early days,” Dell’Amico mentioned quietly. “It was hysterical. We laughed till we cried. However later I assumed, ‘Why was he speaking about his youth on that exact day?’ I used to be in denial. He was getting stuff out that he wished us to learn about. He wished to snicker together with his good pals, as a result of I don’t suppose he thought he had a lot time left.”
Singer Bob Dylan sporting sun shades and searching distraught on his strategy to Jerry Garcia’s funeral. (Kim Komenich/Getty Photos)
Garcia died in his sleep at a residential drug remedy heart in California, The New York Times reported. He was 53. A spokesperson for the band mentioned the trigger was a coronary heart assault. In response to the outlet, Garcia had tried to quit smoking and to shed some pounds.
Len Dell’Amico mentioned that Jerry Garcia was not a tragic determine. (Barry Chin/The Boston Globe through Getty Photos)
Dell’Amico careworn that regardless of Garcia’s temporary life, the artist wasn’t a tragic determine.
“Calling him damaged could be loopy,” he mentioned. “He did greater than most individuals do in 53 years. Sure, he confronted fixed strain. He needed to make robust selections. He had substance issues, positively. However I can inform you from all my time in present enterprise, that was not unusual. And but, he dealt with it effectively, in my opinion. . . . Lots of people concluded that he died of an overdose, which isn’t true in any respect. He died from coronary heart illness.”
Jerry Garcia in Las Vegas a yr earlier than his demise. (Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos)
“We shared a typical perception that there’s life after life – nature is one thing that goes on without end,” he mirrored. “People are the one creatures who fear about dying . . . he wasn’t. Even in these remaining days, he was the identical outdated pleased self that he at all times was. And I believe that’s how we should always bear in mind him.”
