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May 18, 2006
Rest in Peace, Ram Rod
Lawrence ‘Ramrod’ Shurtliff: 1945-2006 / Mainstay of Grateful Dead crew dies — ‘he was our rock’:
Born Lawrence Shurtliff, he was raised a country boy in eastern Oregon and once won a county fair blue ribbon in cattle judging. He got the name Ramrod from Kesey while he was traveling through Mexico with the author and LSD evangelist, at the time a fugitive from justice.
“I am Ramon Rodriguez Rodriguez, the famous Mexican guide,” he boasted, and he was known ever after as Ramrod.
…
“I remember when he first showed up at 710 Ashbury,” said Dead drummer Mickey Hart. “He pulled up on a Harley. He was wearing a chain with a lock around his waist. He said ‘Name’s Ramrod — Kesey sent me — I hear you need a good man.’ I remember it like it was yesterday.”
Ramrod joined the Dead in 1967 as truck driver and was held in such high regard by the members of that sprawling, brawling organization that he was named president of the Grateful Dead board of directors when the rock group actually incorporated in the ’70s. It was a position he held until the death of guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995. Like the rest of the band’s few remaining staff, he was laid off last year.
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Ramrod went to work setting up and tearing down the band’s equipment for every show the Dead played. He puzzled his way through elaborate situations and circumstances: from the myriad psychedelic dungeons the band played through the ’60s, to a concert at the base of the Great Pyramids in Egypt in 1977 to the baseball parks the Dead filled on the endless tours of the ’80s and ’90s up until Garcia’s death.
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A protege of Neal Cassady of the Merry Pranksters, the intrepid band of inner-space explorers who gathered around Kesey, Ramrod absorbed lessons from Cassady, a Beat era legend and model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s landmark novel “On the Road.” “He knew Neal better than anyone in our scene,” said Weir.
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Guitarist Weir said he could barely remember the Dead before Ramrod. “When he did join up, it was like he had always been there. I won’t say he was the missing piece, because I don’t think he was missing. He just wasn’t there. But then he was there. And he always will be. He was a huge part of what the Grateful Dead was about.”
Robert Hunter’s Elegy for Ramrod
Posted by xian at May 18, 2006 12:03 PM
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Comments
Here's an interview with Mickey Hart and Ramrod from 3/3/83.
http://www.gdhour.com/transcripts/Hart-RamRod.830303.html
Posted by: David Gans at May 18, 2006 6:07 PM
Phil and Friends dedicated "Passenger" to Ramrod on Friday night. The rest of the show was a more-than-fitting tribute to him as well.
Posted by: Mark at May 21, 2006 8:43 AM
Ram Rod needs to be in the Rock hall of fame.
He was the ultimate "roadie". No one could handle the coordination of construction and destruction involved in a rock concert like he did.
Posted by: Gabe Grall at July 3, 2007 11:21 AM