Grateful Dead

Howdy gang. Just got in from the DC show and my short and to the point review of that is: "I went in with an open mind and low expectations and I walked out with a big smile on my face and pep in my step..." I'm male, 42, I am a live music addict and a recovering Phish head (joke). I started to see the Dead in the 1980's and lost a bit of my love soon after Brent passed, and really fell out of touch after Jerry passed. I have worked in the music industry and had the great pleasure of working with some the Dead's crew and staff on the 1997 Further Festival with the band moe. I have no idea how many shows I have seen, never cared to count. Seen shows all over the country and thought I'd poke my head in here and say hello. Tonight's show in DC was a whole lot of fun for me, some great playing all around mixed in with some mistakes and a lot of new ways to look at old songs. I have to admit that the players that stood out to me tonight were the back line, the drummers, man did they smoke tonight, I was also really impressed with Warren and Jeff as well. Not to take anything away form Bobby or Phil, but Jeff and Warren really fit in nicely with the other guys. It was nice to see Wavy Gravy up on stage for set 2, he was dancing in his chair and had a big smile on his face. Tipper Gore on drums! Anyway, Hello everyone! Thanks for this little piece of heaven in our mixed up world. Peace! Brendan

My sweetie Greg and I will be going to our first Dead concert on May 9th at the Forum in Inglewood [LA]. I told him that I wanted to give him a new experience in sobriety for his birthday this year, and the experience was going to be our first Wharf Rats meeting ;-). [Him-sober 7 years and counting; me-sober 6 years and counting.] I don't really know what to expect, of course, and will venture over to the Wharf Rats section to get suitably educated, but wanted to wave hello here. *waves hello* My mom died a little over a year ago and for about 5 months I worked on an assemblage piece based on Box of Rain that got me through the bulk of my grief. For that song alone I will be forever grateful to Phil Lesh and Robert Hunter. Cheers, Nancy "Today we're going to teach poodles to fly."-Raul Hernandez, UHF

if you haven't already posted in the Wharf Rats topic, please do!

Hey all, Dustin from Wilkes-Barre, PA here......It's been along time 87-92 since I have been around the scene or the music.....Couldn't pass up the chance not to see the dead in my own back yard....There has been alot bad buzz about this venue and why they picked it, but I assure you it will be a cool time for all....The town is great and has alot of following. If anyone needs help getting around or help in general let me know.....This is going to really bring back some memories from a long time ago.....

Hey All, Tammy from Philly, PA here, 78 days sober, my 1st sober show will be in Philly Sat May 2nd and i'm nervous, looking for wharfrats to help me stay sober and dance the night away. Please contact me so i don't have to sell my ticket out of fear, i had to give up all of my ppl, places and things. Jazzkittenpoet@yahoo.com

My name is Ken, I've been jumpin' around the site for a while and figured this would be a good time to introduce myself. I live in Boston now, but when I was still a teen I hung out with a guy that always spoke about the dead, the only thing I knew about them was my older sister had what I know now as "long strange trip" before 8 tracks were extinct. I knew a bit about music like santana, airplane, allmans, hendrix ect, and heard very little of them on the radio. I didnt quite know what to make of them, then when he played st.stephen from a live show he had, I pushed my way on the bus. My first show was 10/9/84 in Worcester, Mass. when we got there I felt right at home. I was really amazed, this wasnt a concert this was an event. I wanted more. I had been a long time fan of the beatles and when the encore was revolution my mind was blown. My last Jerry show was highgate 95, With many great memories and shows in between,The scene of course had changed alot since my first show, and even in boston it seems there are less heads than back 20 years ago. I went to Penn state to see the boys back in oct. where for part of the show I was in the uppers, then behind the rythym devils for the rest. Billy was a riot, pretending like he was scared to jump off the stage and all. I look forward to the 2 shows in Worcester this year making it almost just about 25 years ago at the same venue when this beautiful journey began. Look forward to seeing Y'all soon."peace is ONLY idealistic to those who believe it to be so" Peace, Love and Hugs,

I don't know exactly what to write... I'm a pretty simple woman, so here is the story of how I just became a deadhead. I seem to have found out in 2009 that I am a deadhead. I suppose this could have happened long ago - people have long told me I would have made a great hippie and that I would love San Francisco, etc. But truth be told I didn't actually like the first Grateful Dead song I heard. Touch of Grey just had the vibe of the times sucking the spirit out of something cool - something I felt when I heard Kokomo by the Beach Boys as well. Enter then-boyfriend, jackass Tim, budding guitarist. One afternoon he played a Grateful Dead song for me. I didn't really listen to the words he softly sung that day, as I just wanted to make stuff up to the music. I think that ticked him off, but whatever. So... Tim skipped town, and left me alone and brokenhearted. Now I know I'm a moron for feeling this after the way he screwed me over, done me wrong (pick your bad cliche!), but a few weeks back I was missing him something fierce. And I thought of the song he played, only I hadn't paid attention and didn't know the name, so I cried a fair share because that tune was as lost to me as he was. Obsessive and clingy as I can be, I remembered another afternoon in his truck when he had to finish out the CD because the last song was Truckin' and he was a truck driver. So, I picked up American Beauty because that song was on there and would remind me of him. I played the disc through, and to my surprise Tim's song was Ripple, right smack in the middle of the album, and not lost to me after all. In a way it feels as if Tim left me in better hands than his. I was reading the liner notes and saw a picture of Pigpen and thought he looked kinda hot and definitely interesting. And in the course of reading more I learned about his story and well, that gives me pause when I get start to get a little too wallowy in self-pity. So I've been playing a bit of Pigpen's blues when I am blue (youtube is so wonderful), and listen to Jerry Garcia's sweet guitar when I'm feeling hopeful. But when I'm blue I can now see that maybe I can do something with it. See, I never even liked the blues until I had the blues. I discovered this when I was alone in Memphis on Valentine's Day after my fiance Randy died and I heard it blaring from the jukebox. It was only after I could relate that I could appreciate that sometimes you just have to let stuff out. So where does this leave me? I suppose a lot of Deadheads think back to some magical moment when they caught on. Me - a jackass threw me under the Deadhead bus as it were. But I found my way on all the same, and I surprise myself that the music has awoke in me again. In the past few weeks, I've picked up my guitar for the first time since before Randy died, and every time I come over to the new place I start singing Ripple (I'm in the process of moving... ugh - can't wait to be done!). As a teenager I always wanted to go to a Grateful Dead show for the people-watching even though I knew nothing about the music. But I put it off because I thought I would have time in college and then Jerry died. So I'm super thrilled that now that I actually get the music I'll be going to my first show in Chicago on May 5. I even bought an extra ticket so that I can either make a new friend or just make somebody's day in the parking lot. Well... that's enough for today. Boy I can be wordy sometimes. Love, Steph

Howdy fellow fans, Very intersting to read the intros! Most of the most fun I have ever had in my life has been at Dead shows. I especially appreciate bonding with fellow starry eyed buddys when the Band hits those high and mighty strides. I read somewhere that a good Dead show is, by far, the happiest place on the planet at that moment. I don't doubt it a bit. The scene has influenced my life since the late 70's, for good or ill. I say "good or ill" because I've become pretty disgusted with the dark side of the whole Dead scene. Toward the end there were junkies passed out on the sidewalk, junkies convulsing on the sidewalk, junkies begging money and cigarretts and hits off my balloon. Ah, recall the summer reek of urine on a huge hot black asphalt parking lot? At my last Riverport show, while walking in the dark area between the stage and bathrooms, I almost fell flat smack on a friggin little baby that was laying on the grass while mom twirled 10 feet away. That's the show where I saw the stunted, impish, pointed eared and grinning creatures crawling on the scaffolding above the stage. Looked like dwarf Grinches. If you could see them, they knew it and would stop crawling and look you right in the eye and smile the smile of a fat, full leach. Um, hang on a second. Ok, I'm back. Well, I would like to meet some Dead fans here in southwest Michigan. Throw a frisbee or maybe I'll take you fishing? Stay the course.

Howdy fellow fans, Very intersting to read the intros! Most of the most fun I have ever had in my life has been at Dead shows. I especially appreciate bonding with fellow starry eyed buddys when the Band hits those high and mighty strides. I read somewhere that a good Dead show is, by far, the happiest place on the planet at that moment. I don't doubt it a bit. The scene has influenced my life since the late 70's, for good or ill. I say "good or ill" because I've become pretty disgusted with the dark side of the whole Dead scene. Toward the end there were junkies passed out on the sidewalk, junkies convulsing on the sidewalk, junkies begging money and cigarretts and hits off my balloon. Ah, recall the summer reek of urine on a huge hot black asphalt parking lot? At my last Riverport show, while walking in the dark area between the stage and bathrooms, I almost fell flat smack on a friggin little baby that was laying on the grass while mom twirled 10 feet away. That's the show where I saw the stunted, impish, pointed eared and grinning creatures crawling on the scaffolding above the stage. Looked like dwarf Grinches. If you could see them, they knew it and would stop crawling and look you right in the eye and smile the smile of a fat, full leach. Um, hang on a second. Ok, I'm back. Well, I would like to meet some Dead fans here in southwest Michigan. Throw a frisbee or maybe I'll take you fishing? Stay the course.

Hi there! I am a 39-year-old male attorney and a nice guy who loves the Dead. I live in San Diego, CA. I have 2 VIP tickets to the May 9th show in LA, but none of my friends can go with me. Anyone want to join me (obviously we should meet at least once first). Please contact me if you are interested. I've never been to a Dead concert before and my drug days are long behind me, but I expect to have a fabulous time.