Grateful Dead

I'm marye, not finicky about the capitalization, and I'm the other mod. David Gans and Bennett Falk and I cofounded the Well Grateful Dead conference back in, uh, 1986 I think. I've been kind of retired from the online conference scene for some time and am truly delighted to come out of "retirement" for this one. My first show was 12/31/80. I probably got to about 200 before it was over, though as I'm busy filling in the My Shows list, I'm certainly wishing I'd kept better records. Still, I cannot complain; I was around for some amazing stuff and I'm grateful. I also quite unabashedly turned myself into a journalist (I was a retail slave at the time) back in 1981 because I could not see any other likely path to having a decent conversation with Jerry Garcia. Eventually the strategy paid off; you can read the result at http://www.yoyow.com/marye/garcia.html, bearing in mind that this is a raw transcript with every sentence fragment in place. (A shorter version of the interview ran in a story in BAM, which no longer exists.) I've lived in Oakland, California, for the last 30+ years. I was born in Los Angeles. I strongly prefer the Bay Area. I'm looking forward to hanging out here.

You can call me Paul or pauli and like our two hosts I've been on the WELL where I was attracted by the Dead conferences in 1992 as an escapee from Usenet. I spent the first 27 years of my life in California. The last 27 have been spent in New Jersey where I am in charge of a project that is editing the papers of Thomas Edison. My first show was 9/9/72 at the Hollywood Palladium, though I had been listening to the Dead for many years. The first time I "saw" them was I believe a broadcast of the 1970 New Year's show. And during the the summer of 1972 I listened to them a lot, especially while my college roommates and I were painting the house we were renting San Luis Obispo. One of my roommates was already a confirmed Deadhead and we went to many shows together over the years. My last show was 6/25/95. I'll have to spend some time reconstructing the list here. I have too many tapes that don't get listened to enough in this digital age but I've been putting those shows that I have on cd on my older IPod and selectively downloading a few others from archive.org. I've also converted a few of my tapes to digital but don't really have enough time to do much of that these days.

Drive misses the dead...............

Colorado, izzie? That's my home state!

I grew up in Aspen, but went to college in both Boulder and Ft. Collins. My sister and her family live in Denver now, and my folks are still up in the mountains.

hi, i'm aud. 7/18/72 Roosevelt, but really "got it" on the rail at the Spectrum on 9/21/72 during that Dark Star>Dew... born and raised in Philly and live now in the western suburbs with my husband and my 2 kids and 3 cats. found the Well one Friday afternoon at work in June 1986 and have been there ever since, hosting the "philly" conference and the "tours" conference, which started many years ago as the spinoff place for all us deadheads on the Well to discuss tours in excruciating detail. these days i caretake a daily topic there with a list of that day's GD shows through history which makes for a lot of great reminiscing, and which i hope will find its way over here in a more multi-media format. i'm a long suffering dedicated Philly sports fan, office manager, Jewish mother, and frequently wish to be on a cliff in Negril rather than in front of my laptop. my life in pictures currently residing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/auds-pix/

Aud! Drive! Howdy!

Hi everyone- I'm tn2nadoes (not picky about caps, either) as I live in Tennessee & have 7 yr old twins who are officially a mess (TN 2 Nadoes). Most people just call me Vivi. Went to my first (half) show at Morgantown, WV in 1983 and my last was RFK in 1990. Got to see a lot of great shows in between- and got a chance to see this great nation of ours- Lots of great stories there -skinning dipping in a "dry lake" outside of Salt Lake City on our way to The Greek, and the great spaghetti sauce incident (that was after a Midwestern show at some wonderful Shakespearean theatre, does anyone remember the name of this?) come to mind... I'm an East Coast girl originally, came South for college & never left. My ex-husband was (and probably still is) a Well Member from the early days - I couldn't handle trying to read all the posts in that weird green type! I've been a lot of things: a cook, caterer, advertising exec, copy writer, office manager, book keeper (ugh), gardener... I've worked in construction (even built an outhouse), graphic design, building design (my own home), music industry, been on the boards of some non-profits (in the arts , land conservation and in animal rescue) mostly in fundraising research (left the professional begging to others, LOL), and I'm now a full time Mom, Wife, Home-Maker, Farmer & Animal Rescuer. Yup, that would be 5 full time jobs! I do some specialty writing on the side, mostly procedure, health, information and fundraising brochures for a Pot Bellied Pig Sanctuary. Yup... pigs... almost as cute as dancing bears. Cheerios- Vivi

Hi Drive. Great to see you! It's been a while.

izzie, izzie, izzie... that would be ex-husband... aka, starter husband. The keeper husband has only seen one show- at the Nashville Municipal (he says it was an October show). He says he doesn't remember anything more than it was a half moon... 'nuf said! Seriously, the ex is named Kirk Pickering, in the Nashville area (a Pittsburgh native). He was an early Well member- in fact (foggy brain here), I remember a Well shirt, and spending intermission at the Greek trying to meet other Well folks (or was in NYE at Kaiser? Oh crud...) Actually I think he wore that Well shirt to every show we went to for an entire summer tour... ICK! There was a Well party at David Gans' apartment we went to- Marye was there (later "met" her on a horse rescue board and quickly figured out the GD connection even tho we were both being respectable at the time, LOL)... Does that help, Izzie?

LOL- fell asleep?! I'd be concerned too-

Jules Misses Drive!! Hi, I'm Julie, loved the Grateful Dead for a long time before I actually was able to get my butt to my first show. I can't blame gans, Steve Silberman was the one responsible for getting me to the Well and online! I was born and raised in Chicago. I'm an Associate Product Manager at a food company and my favorite part of the job is trying out new products :-) I am a mother to Tyler who is 4 years old. I love music, I am a Bobby girl! Waving to all!

Hi, all. I'm Barry, though lots of folks call me Shmo. I don't really care what you call me (as long as it's not dickhead). My first show was 6/29/73 at the Universal Amphitheatre. I was 12 years old, dragged there by my uncle, and, as a kid who was into David Bowie, the New York Dolls, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop, I thought that Dead show was the most boring-ass bullshit I'd ever heard in my life. I fell asleep during the 2nd set. The light switched on at the Shrine Auditorium 1/11/78, when I was lured back to a Dead show by the promise of psilocybin and the company of a girl I'd been crushing on for several years. As I was playing bass in a punk band at the time, I attended the show at great risk of losing my punk cred. I didn't fall in love with the girl, as it turned out, but I did fall in love with the GD, the lostness and abandon being just what my tortured punk soul needed at that crossroads in my musical journey. I DID remain a closeted Deadhead for another couple of years, though, as I continued to inhabit the anti-hippie punk-rock demi-monde. During my junior year in college I "came out" as a fullblown worshipper in the Church of Jerry. In 1989, I read an article about Deadhead culture in the L.A. Weekly, and an online community called The Well was mentioned. I logged onto The Well on May 9, 1989, and that has been my happy cyber-home for the last 18 years. I have been hosting the psychedelic radio show The Music Never Stops on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles since 1995, originally a Grateful Dead show, but following Jerry's death and the demise of the GD as a live outfit I stretched the purview of the program to include jambands and other music for freaked-out weirdos like me. I will admit that my last encounters with the GD were similar to my first, sadly. I thought that much of the music they made in '93-'95, with a few (VERY few) exceptions, was some of the most boring-ass bullshit I've ever heard in my life. But I treasure and honor and and constantly pay homage to the great stuff in all its eternal glory.

Hi, I'm John, but most people on the Well just call me unk. I found the Well by accident in 1991 by reading about it on some flier. Got a 1200 baud modem and started calling long distance right away! My first show was at Duke 4/12/78, but I had been turned onto the band back in 1974 by a friend who turned me onto Mars Hotel. I started off slow and picked up speed in the 1980's. I can't believe I know a whole bunch of y'all. Drive!!!! So good to see from you! I am a newspaper photographer in Raleigh, NC and have been at the same paper for 27 years.

yeah.. me too... Hey Drive, I tried to go to your website and it doesn't work- I'm a knitter too (albeit not a very good one) and was interested in what you do- I love the textile arts and do a few of them- Thanks- Vivi

Drive is a truly awesome knitter. Last time I saw her, which was many years ago, she was doing one of those Kaffe Fassett patterns. Yow.

As for falling asleep, let me just admit up front that I became notorious among my friends for sleeping through second sets. But, as I explained at the time, it wasn't like I wasn't hearing it. Just soaking it in.

ROFLMAO!!! Only time I fell asleep during a show was after I had driven a gadzillion hour to a party, which was LAME... Only good part was they were playing, very loud, a really good show, so I curled up on the sofa near a speaker & zonked!!! Why I have any hearing left is beyond me :) Oh and btw, my comment "yeah me too" was in response to Drive saying she misses the Dead... guess the sequencing was a bit off- Can't wait to see Drive's knitting! I will be in awe- I'm stuck on the baby blankets in k2/p2. (or the sweater where I read the needles backwards and end up with my 6 and 9 transposed, Oooops!)

Hi everyone! It is great to be here amongst the Dead heads. I'm a suburban housewife-mom in a conservative upstate New York town where The Dead exists only in graveyards. Ha! But not in my studio.... The Dead is alive and well... blasting on my iTunes with the visualizer on I can escape to a far away place while I draw my whimsical dogs and cats with our pug Betty Boop snoozing and snorting under my chair.I can't knit though. Must be a wonderful form of expression for you. :)

Hey now, Dee! Dee and I "met" while working on the newsletter for one of my erstwhile clients. We bonded over dogs much as Vivi and I bonded over horses, and then came to the realization one day that we were both Deadheads. It's a small world after all... I have her Valentine dog art by my desk. The dog looks like my Rex...

Am I the only one here whose internet Dead experience was largely formed by rec.music.gdead on the Usenet? I'm really David Pelovitz, which became Vitz in high school and stuck into grad school. Took a number of years to earn that Dr. though. I'm a little leery about posting, mostly because I fear the time I will end up committing. My daughters (Cassidy - 6 & Jordan - 4) take most of that these days. At least they like the Dead (though I recently showed them the Yellow Submarine DVD and now there lives are nearly defined by the Beatles). I'm living in Wisconsin these days, but hail from central NJ (equidistant from NYC, Philly & the Jersey shore). I can commiserate with aud re: the Phillies, but I skew toward NYC teams in general.

I'm Randy, originally from the Jersey Shore, but now living in the Bay Area. My first show was on Jerry's 31st Birthday at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City in '73 and saw tons of great shows on the east coast between then and Englishtown in '77. Then i moved to Marin County and got to see tons more shows, as well as run into the boys around town from time to time. Glad to meet you all and so happy to see the new site finally up and running.

Hi all, I'm pretty much known as irenie at various message boards. For whatever reason, the new deadnet didnt let me sign in with that, so now I'm Weir freakin- like my blog. Looking forward to checking things out around here. I'm also living in the Bay Area. As you can probavly tell, I'm a big Bobby Weir freak.

Hey now! The origins of my handle are too obscure to be of any interest but was what I used on the old dnc site so what the heck... You can call me Fritz too, if you want. First show (well, second set anyway) was the mighty fine 7-7-84 at Alpine. Quite a trip for someone who had bleach blonde mohawk only six months earlier. Mostly caught shows in the Chicago area with some side trips to Georgia and one to California. Stuck around until the bitter end. RMGD hooked me up with a good group of local fiends and met more through the original Deadnet. Kinda a Jerry guy I suppose if I had to choose, but since I don't, just push play and let's enjoy!

Ooh, cool dog, Kaiser! Post about him/her in Deadhead Pets!

What do I offer you so you know me? Here's something from my journal, maybe most apt to why I'm here. Apologies for its length, my friends... 6-27-93 Morning after my 25th anniversary Grateful Dead Show - RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. How would I explain to my son and his heirs the reasons I leave his five-year-old world to travel to something he knows as "The Grateful Dead"? Why these curious preparations - jacket with pins & patches; odd t-shirts; beaded ancient necklace and these books? Why my excitement and why his mommy's chagrin, unease? There must be many ways to start to answer - one is to say that every so often a man's gotta dance hard and sweat like a meat-eater to a rhythm he loves and songs he holds dear... I live so much in the light of the mind and my daily physical lethargy that these explosive outbursts of physical, sensual energy are dear. And because in some ways the Grateful Dead experience and allied encounters are pretty much what remains of things that were important when I was forming as a young man, twenty-five and more years ago when I lay in my parents' house, my home, and listened to the first Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow stacked on my monophonic hi-fi, the summer I turned 20 - 1967- and listened to musicians do things with music which I never had considered before - pushed boundaries, opened new doors in old forms (especially in Viola Lee Blues). My life was encountering the limitless potential that the present holds at 20 and here was its soundtrack. And amazingly here I am 25 years later and the band is still playing and the dances are still danced and it's quite all right for a middling-age coot like me to join in with the youngsters and share in their excitement and discovery and celebration that the universe is a miraculous and a dangerous place, and that singing and dancing its joys and sorrows, ecstasies and defiances in groups come together ritually is a good thing, and maybe a necessary one. And there is in my blood and in the myths of my parents' lore the family pioneer spirit, the frontier imperative, the draw towards and over the boundary in confidence of one's own ability to meet the challenges there with the wisdom of experience and the boldness of a restless, inquisitive mind and the reliance that one's hands can grapple, one's feet can carry, one's back can bear, and one's mind can understand and guide the others in the task. I think of those pioneer ancestors who were not content to settle, but when they did took solace and strength from their celebratory, re-creational communities - barn dances, hoe-downs, wedding parties and Saturday Nights on the town and in my time I look at the "cosmic pioneers" around me, discovering and creating the present and the next millennium, sojourners on the great wave of incredible changes that is our time, and explorers and discoverers, Lewis and Clarks of their own psyches. Which brings me to drugs. In the beginning, yes, there were the drugs for me. LSD, mescaline and pot. And yes, they worked their charms then for better or for worse and how I see things and think of them inescapably has been affected. For many Deadheads the drugs are the point- to alter their chemistry and revel in it in a safe and pretty and dedicated environment - but not for me, for nearly 20 years. It's not the drug experience I go to encounter, because I believe I pushed that as far as I could long ago and to continue would be variations on an old, if interesting, still-not-furthering theme. Then why do I go, in short? Because at a Dead show I encounter my youth, my old self and memories of my growth, memories of when my love, too, would walk with me and dance with me at these shows. I guess it would be a touch of nostalgia because I long to share those things again. But I don't long for that past and I'm certainly not trying to recapture it for longer than a passing, smiling nod. The music is all new, and I go for the present (in every sense of the word), to hear and see performed live, in all good companie, lyrics and music I treasure and that is wound around and within the deepest places my heart and spirit cherish: respect for the planet and the others on it, love when it's possible, awareness that all can be lost and the abyss descended yet climbed again, encounter with the great Other and an abiding optimism that there's nothing one can face that beats out love and kindness and charity. I go to be reminded, and, with others, to affirm. Days Inn, Capitol Centre, D.C., 7-8 AM @->--- @->--- @->--- @->--- @->--- @->--- I dunno, it must have been the roses! First show 11/23/68 ATHENS OHIO ... Anyone have it for trade? Cheer'n'merry Sunshine!

HI everyone JUSTaHEAD is how im known around the net at the few places i visit.Nice to meet some new kind like minded ppl.And im sure you cats will hear more from me.Nce to be here. _____________________________________________________________________________ If I knew the way,I would take you home.....

Hi all from Ottawa Canada. My first show was Wonderland 1984 WOW! I went to shows right up until the last tour though I stopped touring in 1989 as having children made it seem too difficult. I've been raising a family, making a living and writing /playing music ever after. Life's good but not AS good without Jerry!

Hello everyone, I'm J.Chimmy from Louisville, KY. I don't have a laundry list of shows I attended and I don't have a long history in the scene. I discovered the Dead when I was 15 and I've been hooked ever since. I don't expect to run into a bunch of old friends I made on tour but I do hope to make some new friends.

Welcome! Hope you find a happy home here.

nothin left to do but smile smile smile! hey all. just checkin in from The Lou here in the heartland of the midwest. Home of some great tribute bands like Jake's Leg, The Schwag, and I think Blue Dixie graced our memories years back. Been listenin to the boys since I was turned on in '72 at the Fabulous Fox Theater and been ridin that train ever since. Glad to be allowed to join your family!!!!!!!

Hey, everyone. Just call me Mershaullk or Mersh; whichever you prefer. I'm probably the youngest person on here as of now. I'm only 14. Well... Despite my age, I'm a huge Deadhead. I never got to see a concert though, as you should be able to guess why. I also like Jack Johnson, the Doobie Brothers, CCR, Pearl Jam, etc. Uhhhmm... I'm more of an "in person" kinda guy so writing stuff about myself is kinda difficult. I'm friendly, unless you tell me something ignorant and try to back it up with bogus facts. I love helping people. I do it whenever possible. I'm going into the Peace Corps after I get done with school, if that says anything. Most of my friends say I'm the funniest person they know, but then again, my humor is a more "in person" type. Well, I don't have much else to say except LONG LIVE THE DEAD.

Born an east-coaster (CT) and have lived in MA, VA, NH, and NY. Currently live in Denver (since 1995) and dig it. Teach for Denver Public Schools and am married with three young'uns, all boys ages 6, 5, and almost 3 mo. Started catching shows in '81 and the bug never left my body.

hmmm... i kinda miss the skeleton w/ the hardhat...but, cool new board. i like the dead, pink floyd, the ozark mountain daredevils, bluegrass, livin' here in the mountains (wv), reading the bible, my grandson, riding my motorcycle (triumph tt600 sportbike), collecting lossless boots, and other stuff. i used to be a staff artist for relix magazine and for unbroken chain (when laura smith published it), back about '91-'95.

Hola! I got on the bus in '89 when I was 14. My Deadhead cousin took me to my first show (9/20/90 MSG WOW!!). Only made it to about 30 or so shows. In early '95 I found myself in the U.S.Navy stationed in the country of my ancestors: Puerto Rico! I was lucky enough to connect with family who lived nearby, and learn about my roots. I was also lucky enough to befriend Marty Soucie, one of the great Deadheads. He was, at the time, getting his Grateful Bed and Breakfast up and running at the foot of the El Yunque Rain Forest ( I was shocked and saddened to hear about his death a few years later :( ) After the Navy I spent some time helping to get the Navy out of Vieques Island, starting college, and then back into the military (national Guard to pay for college) It took me a while (just like a good Dead jam), but I finally go my degree, and said goodbye to the military. I currently teach English and humanities in southern PA (near Gettysburg). Every once in a while a student asks me about the picture of the bearded fat guy with a guitar I have hanging between the portraits of Faulkner and Goethe, and I have to laugh. Of course during the intro to poetry unit they'll know when we compare the trad ballad "Lady from Carlyle" with "Terrapin Station"! Yo Soy Boricua!

Hey all....Most of you remember me from the old site......Im one of the young ones (was 16 when Jerry passed) and live in Chicago.....I have been a hardcore listener since I was 14 or so but the light switch really turned on in 2004 when Phish broke up..I spent the next 3 years BURIED in Archive.org and Dick's Picks.Been to 20 or so Phil and Other One's shows with my first in 98..I live in a house with 5 other friends that 2 of my buds from High School bought...On the weekends I like to listen to shows, drink magic tea and relax....Mainly listening to 72-74 and 77-78 right now.... Dead to the Core myspace.com/bongwizard

Hey to all! I'm Sken, the Hen. My 1st show was 07-09-1989. Saw a few more but not many more. Can't seem to remember all of them at one time. I also like to eat toast in the morning. I'm just a, well...porpoise.

So happy the new site is here!!!!! It looks great.....Hope to see all the old friends I met at the old one (I found most of you, same names) and can't wait to meet new ones!!!!!!!!! Dead to the Core myspace.com/bongwizard

cool new board. i'm 25 and actually listen to metal more than anything. the grateful dead just seem to click with me. cool jamming and they know how to play. never been to a show that features anyone from GD though. i'm still kinda new to the grateful dead. is there a section where you can give and ask for recomendations for what shows to download or cd's to purchase?

Hi I am Bob i live in a village in the South of Spain My first Dead show was May 1970 in England, may last Dead show was 1st November 1990 also in England Nice and warm and sunny here

high there, all. woody here in the grate nw. oops, time ta go to work.

We're just getting started here and things are pretty crazy, but for the moment you might want to look in the Grateful Dead section of the Forums, where there's a topic on all-time great versions of songs and most life-changing shows. That might give you something to start with while we're figuring out all this stuff! Thanks!

Too old to remember, too young to have seen pig. So many roads to get to ?this? place. Long time deadicated moron whose background music is still the good old grateful dead. Knew a couple of WELL heads in the late 80's early 90's before disapeering into the jungles of Kauai for a decade....and that damn kreutzamnn followed me....ugh.... currently my cyber world is DNC. We'll see if this place has the moxie to stand up to a certain brand of weirdness that is required for my daily intake. If you like chocolate, then patronize my buisness www.lilliebellefarms.com. Its all I know how to do anymore. or dont...

Brooklyn born Deadhead. Hope everyone has a good day .

I teach Spanish - Hola, Bob - and coach cross-country. Favorite Dead window is Fall '71 through 5/26/72. Love plenty, however, before and after. Was all or nothing at all on the bus from '77 to '82. Back on w/ release of Hundred Year Hall - just love hearing the Dead in those old theatre-type venues! Nos vemos.