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Mickey Hart remembers Walter Cronkite
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Photo: sfweekly.com
CBS broadcast a special, one-hour tribute to “the most trusted man in America,” the late Walter Cronkite Sunday night. The show not only explored the newsman’s role in many of modern history’s most captivating moments; it also touched on some of the more eclectic aspects of the man’s personal life, one of which was his relationship with the Grateful Dead.
According to Dead drummer Mickey Hart — featured prominently in the tribute because of his close friendship with Cronkite and his wife Betsy — the mild-mannered anchor was a closet Deadhead. “He said, 'I love your music.' He was a freedom fighter and he was an honest, truthful guy that used his power while he was here on earth well. He was for the good."
Hart recalled the night Cronkite came to a Grateful Dead show. “It was Walter Cronkite at the soundboard at Madison Square Garden. He came back at halftime and I introduced him to Jerry (Garcia), and he said, 'I was thinking of a thousand reasons to leave early. But I can't think of one now!'"
In a 2004 interview with Details magazine, Cronkite enthusiastically told the reporter, “Mickey Hart is a good friend of mine,” as he showed off a giant gong in his office. “He's a real expert on percussion instruments around the world. And he gave me that lovely thing. You can play a tune on it, it's so beautifully tuned. It's quite remarkable. It's from Tibet.”
And that's the way it is. The music of the Grateful Dead can always be found “in the strangest of places if you look at it right…” RIP Walter Cronkite.
Video: Jonathan Clarke Interviews Walter Cronkite and Mickey Hart at Earth Day New York City.
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