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Truckin’ on: Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead’s 10 best recordings

Truckin’ on: Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead’s 10 best recordings

From 46-minute jams to MTV video hits, here are the freedom-loving Dead guitarist and singer’s finest songs about ‘rainbows of sound’ and ‘enjoying the ride’ • Bob Weir, co-founder of rock group the Grateful Dead, dies at age 78 • Alexis Petridis: ‘Bob Weir was the chief custodian of the Dead’s legacy’ • Aaron Dessner: ‘I’ll never forget playing with him’ That love for the road continues on this segment from That’s It for the Other One, the four-part opening track of the Dead’s second LP, Anthem of the Sun. A rare Weir-penned lyric details the Dead’s youngest member being busted by the cops “for smiling on a cloudy day” – referencing a real-life incident when Weir pelted police with water balloons as they conducted what he took to be illegal searches outside the group’s Haight-Ashbury hangout. It then connects with the band’s spiritual forebears the Merry Pranksters by referencing Neal Cassady, driver of “a bus to never-ever land”. The song later evolved into The Other One, one of the Dead’s most played tunes and a launchpad for their exploratory jams – as in this languid, brilliant version at San Francisco’s Winterland in 1974. Continue reading...

Stan Wawrinka: ‘I really believe that I squeezed the lemon until the last drop’

Stan Wawrinka: ‘I really believe that I squeezed the lemon until the last drop’

The 40-year-old is nearing end of his career and has no regrets after winning three grand slams in Big Three era In the first week of the final year of his life as a professional tennis player, Stanislas “Stan” Wawrinka found himself in the familiar position of staring down an opponent nearly half his age. Wawrinka, now 40, had tussled with the talented 23-year-old Flavio Cobolli for nearly three hours before offering himself a shot at a monumental victory. Just a few tense errors deep in a tense final set tie-break saw those chances slip away. In theory, deciding that 2026 will be the final year of his career should provide Wawrinka with an opportunity to swing for the fences and completely empty his tank, playing without inhibitions. Life, however, is far more complicated than that. “Of course I would love to play more freely. And sometimes I tell myself: ‘Just play freely,’” sighs a frustrated Wawrinka. “But I care so much that it’s not that easy.” Continue reading...