Grateful Dead

I caught quite a few shows here. The rafters up above rival those of the GW Forum in LA. Drums/Space always left a dent in my brain. Walking around the lot was fun. Getting on the hill between the arena and stadium and looking down at all of you was always fun for me... Waiting in line between the barricades with you guys selling us beer was a treat - Walking down to the Dennys after the show for a late night snack or the other direction the the liquor store - Thanks Oakland.....

Flew into LAX and drove to Oakland. Preview to New Years shows at Kaiser. Remember coed bathrooms, I was excited, but my typical East Coast mother was not. Week off between these shows and Kaiser. Traveled from Oakland down to Mexican border. Too paranoid to even walk across the border, with reason. Stayed in some hotel in San Diego, saw a cockroach (unless you are totally filthy you didn't see them where I was coming from at that time). Also, water felt greasy, and I swear they made porno in my room, red velvet wallpaper, yikes! But did do the tourist thing, went to SD zoo, had a great time. Jade beach, wanted to live there in a tent. Two small shopping bags of pebbles as souveniers, didn't know they would save our asses when we left for East Coast a week later! Spent Christmas in San Francisco, hotel proprietor gave us a bottle of sparkling apple juice. I made a tree out of the foil from top of bottle. Ate Chinese for dinner, only place that was open. Speaking of Chinese food - don't ever put eggrolls from a buffett in your purse! The gods will get you when you eat them later! After that on to Kaiser for New Year show!

My second time to go on the road. I was now 16 years old and drove with two friends from so-cal, and it was the beganing of becoming a fan of the music, before this I just liked the parking lot scene. They always played so well at o-town

I also had to tell my parents that I was going camping with some friends, he,he...I wonder if my kids are gonna try that one on me?!

My first ever tour for a year, First time to ever travel the US.On the road the whole year at every venue! What memorys......................

Pano gave me his ticketChuckles drove Chuckles,Chuck J. and I had a great time I would show you a photo of the parade , if I could figure out how to load it.

Like coming come to baked bread! I loved this show and still have the ticket from the home office! I was blown away by this show and slept in my car in front of my grandmothers home in Piedmont, thank god the cops didn ´t bust me.

This would be the 2nd Dead show I saw which was in 1994 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. This particular show came in a roundabout way. I used to work at LaVera Pizza & Pasta in Petaluma and every few weeks a gentleman would come in and order a pizza. The waitresses would come in the back and tell me and my good friend and co-worker, Rich Allen, that "the guy with the Grateful Dead t-shirt is back", as every time he came in he wearing a new Dead shirt. One time he asked the waitress "who cooks the pizza and when will he be working again". I ended up cooking his pizza and walked out and introduced myself and let him know the pizza was on the house. He was extremely kind, pleasant, and very thankful for the free pizza. As we began talking he asked me if I was a Grateful Dead fan, which I told him I was. The next time he came back to the restaurant he had two tickets for me for the Dead's next show at the Oakland Coliseum. I was ecstatic. It was an enormously kind gesture from a good man and a devout Dead Head. That person was Dick Latvala. I didn't know who he was at the time, but am now very aware of the mark he has left on the Dead culture. Thank You Dick for that great experience! I was fortunate enough to go to many parking lots at the Oakland Coliseum before I ever made it into an actual show. I can say that the Oakland parking lots were alway an entertaining time and had a NoCal flair to them. I recall one time walking through the lot and coming across a dance floor laid out in tiles across the coliseum parking lot with a strobe light and an extremely hot lady dancing to Heart of Glass by Blondie. One of many memories of just walking around and enjoying the vibe. I'll always miss that. The last show I ever saw of the Dead was Mardi Gras at the Coliseum. The passwords to get to General Admission was "Anne Rice" on one side and "Marie Antoinette" on the other side.