S1 E17 Celebrity Souls Speak Pig Pen (Ron McKernan) Includes Transcript

Rene', Brian and PigPen have a great discussion about life. And 5-hour concerts.
Brian's note: Boy, Pig Pen has done some deep thinking during his time on the otherside. This is the kind of interview that really gets you thinking. 

Check out Rene's blog https://commoncentsinwilmingtonnc.blogspot.com/ 

Transcript

BWATS1E17RONMCKERNAN(PIGPEN)

Hi. This is Brian White. Welcome to Season 1 Episode 17 of Celebrity Souls Speak With Brian and Rene’. Our guest is Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. My wife, Rene’, is a Medium and I’ve been a radio personality for over 50 years. The otherside established communication with us because they wish to stay in touch with this dimension. They know I truly love and respect music and the artists that perform it and Rene’ is a huge music fan as well. We started this podcast and have been interviewing celebrities that have passed over. We’re giving them a platform, they have a lot to say and we’re in contact and passing along their thoughts.

Hi, this is Rene’s Ron’s soul came through to say a few things to humanity, what follows are his words. I didn’t know much about Ron, but after speaking with him I came away with a good understanding of his beliefs. I’m looking forward to our next conversation. 

Ron McKernan, better known as Pigpen, was one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead.  Described as a gentle, introverted soul, Ron had a severe drinking problem and died of internal bleeding due to cirrhosis of the liver, a disease usually found in heavy drinkers of more advanced age, certainly not a 27-year-old. 

Ron was born in 1945, in San Bruno, CA. His father, Phil, was a D.J. and played R&B and blues on KDIA, a black radio station.  His family moved to Palo Alto when he was 14 and that’s when he met Jerry Garcia at a club. And that’s how it began. 

I like what you're doing and I like what I'm hearing. But I hope you're…. I wish you well on this journey. The music industry is not going to like you for this my man. Like a lot. Quite a lot. Jerry is here and I've been showing him the ropes. That's sort of what I do. I'm on the Marketing Committee around here. I call it the Really Dead. We are pretty impressed that you want to talk about the stuff that we don't want to talk about. We're also really impressed that you're willing to ask questions. It's almost like you think we are human or something. How much of our music is a bunch of people talking about how shitty their lives were? How much of our music is just people drawn to each other to say, I was miserable, how about you? But I have to say that I'm really okay with my life. I'm really okay with where I came from. And I was grateful to leave when I did, but I missed it for a long time. 

Our conversation turned to George Harrison, life and the afterlife. George was very introspective and at the same time very spiritual. When he was here he thought about the afterlife, he believed in it. He knew it. Ron said, Maybe he was done living? How many songs have to do with dying or being dead? It's almost like we have a death wish, don't you think? It’s like we’re fascinated with it.

Absolutely.  I'm not afraid of dying. I'm just as interested with knowing about what's going to happen after I die as I am with what's going to happen with the rest of my life here. Ron replied, That's because you're a grown-up. That's because you are dealing with what can happen, not what has happened. So if you were to look at George Harrison, or anybody really, and you were to look at their music, and they were producing music that said, I'm done, or I don't want to do this anymore, or I'm ready to go or I feel dead. You're listening to a person who's aging in front of you, who's dying in front of you. If you look at these people who are in and out of rehab, or people are taking pictures of them passed out on the street, you're looking at a person who wants to die. I think that this is a national or world emergency because these people have money or fame or influence. Nobody thinks of it as an epidemic, but think about the ravages of alcoholism, or drug abuse, or self-mutilation in just the ranks of the musicians from the 60s and 70s. It's huge. And then think about the people from the 80s on. CONTD

The big thing is that in the 60s and the 70s, you could tell who was on shit. You could tell who was smoking or shooting up or drinking, you could tell. But a lot of these cats coming on over now, you never know until they get in trouble right before they pass over. Nothing's changed in the music industry. Nothing's changed in how we're groomed for it. But also, nothing's changed in that big talent frequently comes from absolutely squalid living conditions, or dysfunctional parents. Great music comes from that.

Is it because you're so inspired by those living conditions? It makes you think… Ron said, Well, maybe we're just wanting somebody to recognize how terrible it was. Maybe we're wanting somebody to tell us that we survived it that we're not the walking dead. Maybe at six or seven years old we died. But our bodies were still just walking around. You know how you cut a chicken's head off and the chicken’s bodies walk around for hours. Maybe we're already dead man, maybe we're already dead. I've been thinking about this because I never felt more alive until I actually died, so I figured I’d just offer that because everybody here is talking about how you've created quite a conversation. You know, the rest of us beforehand, were just saying, “Man, that shit was awful. I'm glad I'm out of it. And now we're starting to delve a little bit and go, Well, it happened to me when I was six. What about you, man? It happened to me at five. We're finally ready to look at it. And I have to say we're pretty happy that you're trying to start a conversation. CONTD

Because even though we may have been gone for a long time, it's something that we haven't looked at, haven't wanted to look at. And we still have the capability of healing it. So I thank you. I thank you for really caring about us musicians. For really wanting to know our stories. 

We care about the people who have played such an important role in our lives, who helped to shape who we are through their music. We want you to know how much we appreciate the sacrifices that you made to make your beautiful music and hope to hear you again when we are on your side. Do you still do those five-hour concerts? Hahahaha.

Thank you Ron, let’s talk again soon.