Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995                   TAG: 9508140064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JONATHAN HUNLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`THE MAN'S GONE, BUT HIS MUSIC LIVES ON'

Some had graying beards, and others were taking a few of their first steps.

Familiar tunes played in the background.

Some people danced.

But they weren't as amiable as usual.

Sixty to 70 Grateful Dead fans - known as Deadheads - gathered Friday night in the parking lot of the Tie Dye Guy store at 907 Fourth St. in Southeast Roanoke for a candlelight vigil to mourn the death of the band's leader, Jerry Garcia.

"This is a decent turnout for how it came about," Tie Dye Guy owner Brandon Mitchell said.

Mitchell didn't really advertise the event. He said he thought of the idea late Wednesday night, and news of the happening was spread by word of mouth. He told customers about the get-together, and some read about it in The Roanoke Times.

Mike Elswick said he was in his car on U.S. 11 when the news of Garcia's death came on the radio before Rush Limbaugh's talk show.

Elswick said he was a Limbaugh fan until the radio personality made derogatory comments about Garcia.

Now, Elswick won't listen to the show.

"Not till me and him [Limbaugh] have a talk," he said.

Elswick's wife, Susan, said the couple may not be textbook examples of Grateful Dead fans.

"We're not the typical Deadheads that go to every single concert," she said.

But they did say their 9-year-old daughter listens to Grateful Dead music.

"She's grown up a little Deadhead," Susan Elswick said.

The couple saw the Dead when the band played at the Roanoke Civic Center in July 1987. They have even turned their friends on to the band's music.

"It's something you don't think that's ever going to end," Susan Elswick said.

Sam Strickling, 22, said he was in a state of denial when he first heard about Garcia's death. Strickling has seen every East Coast tour the Grateful Dead has played since 1988.

"It's a part of life that's gone," he said. At a Grateful Dead concert - or show as they're known in Deadhead circles - "you were totally isolated from reality."

Strickling said the band could never get another guitarist to replace Garcia.

"Jerry Garcia has no equal," he said.

19-year-old Virginia Tech student Jonah Rogin isn't sure the band won't play again, though.

"It's the end of something," he said. "Whether it's the end of the Grateful Dead is hard to say."

Mark Coleman stood in the middle of the parking lot and directed traffic as people flowed in. He said Garcia's music brought out the "peaceful, relaxed side" of him.

"The summer of love" never ended as long as the Grateful Dead toured, he said.

Like all the other fans interviewed, though, Coleman will continue to listen to recordings of Garcia's work.

"Hey, the man's gone, but his music lives on," he said.