Grateful Dead

so glad you made it here.

Been here a few months, and thought I'd introduce myself. My given name is John, but because I'm a Junior, my parents nicknamed me Johnny at birth. I was born and raised in a small town in TN located exactly halfway between Nashville and Memphis. I discovered the Dead at the age of ten in 1976. Went to a friend's house, and his older brother was gone for the day. There was a stack of albums in his room, and Blues For Allah was on top. That was my introduction. On Saturday 12-16-78, I snuck to Nashville with a couple of high school guys I'd been buying joints from to see my first show. I accepted a Coke from a friendly stranger, and ended up getting dosed. Not only could I hear the music, but I could feel it, smell it, and taste it. That really changed everything in my life. Because of my location, I was only able to attend 5 more shows during my school years. 4 at the Kiel in St. Louis, and 1 at Boutwell in Birmingham. After graduating high school in 1984, I moved to Chicago to lay carpet with a friend who moved up there to start his own business. Attended a pair of shows in Alpine the next year. By the way, I thought Alpine was a great venue. Got tired of Chicago, and moved to Norfolk in January 1987. Got a job at Tracks Records, and attended every show at Hampton, Roanoke, Greensboro, and Charlotte from March 1987 until the last Charlotte show in 1995. If you bought tickets for any of these shows at the Tracks in Norfolk, it's possible that I sold them to you. Especially the 2 Warlocks shows in October 1989. I worked the ticket counter for the on sale date. Even took a trip to New Orleans in 1988 for a show, and drove up to Louisville for a show in 1990 when I was back home for a week vacation. Then Jerry passed on, and the trip was somewhat over. Did attend the Further Festival at Virginia Beach Amphitheater in 1997. In 1998 I decide to settle down at the age of 32. Met an upstate NY girl 11 years my junior{non Head}, and truly fell in love. Moved back to my hometown to raise our child in a more rural environment, and Malachi was born on St Patrick's Day 1999. I conformed, and got a good factory job with excellent benefits. Everything was good for 7 years. Bought a nice house, and she drove around in a new car while I drove back and forth to work in the 2nd paid off vehicle. 5 years of not so good marriage, which I stuck around for entirely because of my son. Come 2010, and my wife is working for a local attorney. She blindsides me with divorce papers, and because of her attorney connections, a restraining order having me removed the house. It was on the grounds that she was scared of me. I assure you that I am an extremely peaceful person, and never raised a hand to her. She was planning to move back to NY, and take my son with her. I hired an out of town attorney with an excellent reputation. I lost my house and everything I worked 12 years for, but I obtained full custody of my son. She moved back to NY, and pays not a penny of child support. So much for deadbeat dads, I have a deadbeat ex-wife. He flies to NY to see her 5 weeks every summer since the divorce. But other than that, we are still Truckin'. Thanks to all who take the time to read my bio, and my apologies for the length. I condensed it as much as I could. PEACE Johnny

make yourself at home!

Hello,My name is Hillary and I am a lone DH living now in a small southern town. I am a lone liberal in a small southern town. There is no one who shares my passion for the music here. My first show was actually in '98 at Alpine Valley, WI. They opened with Dark Star and played it again in the last set, and I have been hooked ever since. I knew I had found my home, the place I belonged in my heart. My greatest regret in life is not seeing Jerry! I had a chance to see their last show in Memphis, but I was sick. I still found my way here anyway. My little boy is starting to really like them now. :) I would love some messages. Peace and Love to All

After graduating from UNCW this past spring and writing my thesis on the Dead I am here to attempt to learn more about this fantastic community. The reputation of Dead fans proceeds itself through its fairly breif history. I am looking forward to sharing and learning from this active community of Heads. Cheers.

so glad you made it, make yourself at home!

hi my name is jacob johnson, i am 15 years old. i am the youngest of 5 and my oldest brother was the one who introduced my to the grateful dead. although he showed me phish intending to get me more into them, i got caught on the grateful dead. i am a bit knew to this so i don't know what else to say except that i love the dead, and always will. oh, and happy early birthday jerry! thanks

Hi,We have been visiting this site and trying to learn about some of the GD tee shirts we have on our website Monstervintage.com. Since there is so much information out there when trying to look up a specific tee shirt it gets overwhelming and confusing, history of the artwork, concert or album . Many of you are very familiar with the albums, songs and concerts so we thought we might be able to get some help with factual information to clean up some of our tee shirt descriptions. Some of the tee shirts are priced high but where are we going to get another one when it sells? Original tee shirts that are not cheap reproductions are getting really hard to find. Any help we can get would be awesome and we would give members of the forum a nice discount code for participating. Perhaps it can be a fun way to put some of that GD knowledge to use and we can make some tee shirt lover a happy person. http://www.monstervintage.com/Vintage_Clothing/Mens/Tee+Shirts/Vintage+… Thanks Monstervintage.com Men's Vintage Tee Shirts Grateful Dead category

hi. my name is andrew miller. im a musician, age 20. im in a doom/stoner metal band called witchdoctrine. im a lead guitarist. im very big into psychedelic rock, psychedelic art, and everything to do with the hippie culture and beliefs. been a dead head since age 14. my band witchdoctrine is actually doing a psychedelic jam album called colours of the dark, where we just instrumentally jam out the feelings of the colors at hand. so if youre interested in hearing that, ill keep you posted. i enjoy sitting with my guitar puffin on my pipe and just let my fingers go and close my mind. i practice meditation, and i like reading, drinking hot tea, and watching the history channel and the simpsons. im a vegetarian, and i reside in york, pa. i think i covered it all. any other questions, feel free to message me.

glad to have you with us!