Dead & Company are making a return visit to the Valley with their Monday night concert at Ak-Chin Pavilion. Bob Weir and the guys have a long history with Arizona shows as part of their never-ending musical story.
Or, is that ‘Bob Weier’?
No, not that Bob.
That Bob is also a musician, as a Valley-based piano and violin teacher in Scottsdale with Kirk’s Studio for the Performing Arts.
That Bob gets Grateful Dead questions all the time about the famous musical name he shares. When asked about it he signs his email with “Keep On Truckin. LOL,” and seems content with not even correcting folks that spell his name “Weir” although his name is actually “Weier.” Heck, it’s even spelled “Weir” on the Studio’s official website.
“I didn’t correct that. It has not mattered to most people that I have an extra ‘e’ in my name,” he said, taking the longstanding questions about his name, especially working in the music community, in stride. “It is pronounced the same, so it didn’t seem like a big deal to me to make it known.”
The other Bob Weir also has a long history in Arizona.
Wait, no, not that Bob Weir, the other other one. (Pun intended referencing the classic song “The Other One” written by Bob Weir. No, by the other Bob Weir.)
That other one serves as superintendent for Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education (VACTE) in Cottonwood, where they’ve started two new career technical ed programs this year to raise the total offered to 10, in addition to the CTE programs available at Mingus, Sedona and Camp Verde high schools.
A jack of all trades, that Bob is also quite literally a rodeo clown, and Arizona high school sports fans know him from his days as head coach of a dominating Camp Verde High School varsity wrestling program which won five state titles under Bob Weir including three in a row in the late 2000s.
That other Bob, however, has followed him around at every stop.
“Having the name of ‘Bob Weir’ has been entertaining sometimes,” the Cottonwood Bob Weir said. “One of the funniest ones is when I’m booking airfare. A lot of times they will ask ‘are you Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead?’, and I tell them yes if it gets me a better seat or a cheaper rate. So far it hasn’t worked.”
At any rate, the real real Bob Weir will take the stage this Monday night in Phoenix in the current incarnation of The Grateful Dead that includes fellow original members Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, as well as John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. Jam-band fans will delight this weekend with Ak-Chin, at 2121 N. 83rd Ave., also hosting Phish three nights earlier.
The Grateful Dead made its first-ever Arizona appearance in April 1969 with a concert at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Two years later the band gave the classic song “Jack Straw” its live debut — written by Weir and Robert Hunter and including the line “half a mile from Tucson.”
Since then Arizona was a regular Dead tour stop, including a three-night run in 1994 at Ak-Chin Pavilion, which then went by the name Desert Sky Pavilion, as well as for ongoing band variations between members following the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia. Dead & Company played the venue as recently as 2017.
All those miles around the state helped inspire a Jerry Garcia Fan Club in 1996 to adopt a two-mile stretch of Interstate 8, about 20 miles east of the Arizona-California border, between mile markers 20 and 21, according to ADOT communications director Doug Nick.
Meanwhile, the other Arizona Bob Weirs continue truckin.
“I like some of the music from the Grateful Dead and Bob Weir,” Cottonwood’s Bob Weir said. “It’s pretty cool having a name that people recognize. It does draw some good conversations.”
Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net
@stevestockmar
sstockmar@iniusa.org
Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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