Photo via Bill Kreutzmann on Facebook

Last Thursday, May 7, the Grateful Dead’s perpetual timekeeper, Bill Kreutzmann, rang in his 80th birthday. The original heartbeat of the beloved improvisational innovators marked the occasion in a post shared on his official social media accounts over the weekend, where he displayed videos and memorialized the experience in a reflective multi-paragraph write-up, ending with the age-verified hope for the future: “Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim during his 80s.”

Kreutzmann’s caption reads: 

For my 80th birthday this year, I rented a beach house, just down the road from where we filmed Grateful Mahalo for my 75th birthday.

Five years later and the world has changed so much in so many ways, but this long, strange trip still has more tricks and turns. Because after a pause and a day to look back and take stock of a wild and incredible eight decades, “the only thing I know how to do is to keep on keeping on.” Forge ahead. Like the music always taught us to. Forge ahead! And keep playing along.

During a delicious birthday dinner on the lanai with my family and about a dozen of my island ohana, this guy shows up with a guitar, a ukulele, and a lap steel. Well, I guess he didn’t just show up. It was planned but it was a surprise to me: Tavana, a really incredible singer-songwriter from Honolulu.

I saw a conga that someone had brought and couldn’t help myself. I knew I was supposed to just watch and soak it in, but it was my party and I could jam if I wanted to. So I jammed for two and a half hours, keeping the party going later than scheduled. Because the best stuff in life isn’t scheduled. What better birthday gift could I possibly want, than to be able to play music just for the joy of playing music?

It was one of my best birthdays yet and now I look forward to one of my best years yet. Thank you all so much for your wishes and your love. I feel it.

Swipe through and watch below.