Grateful Dead

... in the late spring of '77. It's my understanding there were some pretty good shows going down about then. I "was just nineteen, with ways like a baby chile'" - I started smoking and fell in lust with a chiquita loca whose entire family of brothers and sisters were into the Dead. The oldest brother was hard-core into Pig and he kinda scared me. He looked a lot like Pig - you know, that picture where he's got that one eyebrow raised - help! My girlfriend, la chiqita loca, loved Donna - especially the Keith & Donna record and she turned me on to the Fire Up! record, too - Jerry, "a foa - Afta midnight ..." And then it was Terrapin, Europe '72, Skull & Roses, and I was going, going, going - ON THE BUS!!! I took an extended Dead hiatus from '82-ish until Jerry passed. I grabbed "Hundred Year Hall" in '95 and was immediately back on the bus. I have been very fortunate to have been able to associate with those connected closely to sources who could keep me in Dead discs. I can't believe it's been 30 years and I still have the passion for the music. I love most musics but the Dead have a way of pushing all the right buttons and I listen to the shows I have on their anniversary. Awe shucks, by the time I get Road Trips, Vol.1 the anniversay dates will have passed - let's see, I think there's an open date ... "From day to day, just lettin' it ride, You get so far away from how it feels inside, You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall, But the day may come when you can't feel at all."

I walked in to my high school American Literature class and there leaning against the chalkboard at the front of the class was a record cover with a fantastic picture of a skeleton with roses in on its’ head and the words Grateful Dead above it. I had read about the legendary band in Rolling Stone and heard a song or two on Beaker Street AM radio from Little Rock late at night and on KUNI-FM public radio but I had never seen one of their records, it beckoned to me throughout the class. I couldn’t wait to hear it. Towards the end of class we got to have music in the background while we read for 20 minutes. The volume was pretty low but I liked the rhythms that I heard. My friend Archie and I started talking after class and he told me it was his record and I asked if I could borrow it. I took it home, placed it on the stereo and looked at the picture of the band inside the cover. Wow, these guys are real hippies, with tie dye shirts; they are not pretty boys, that’s cool. Out of the speakers jumped Bertha with the loud bouncing bass line, a sweet lead vocal, nice harmonies, an organ, curious rhythm guitar and a great guitar solo. This was not Grand Funk Railroad or Black Sabbath; hey these guys are really good. They might be as good as Jefferson Airplane or Santana or CCR or maybe even Cream or the Doors. I turned the song way up and rocked and then what ? A country song? What is this? Mama Tried? Merle Haggard? Hell, I was trying to avoid that shit, I lived in the middle of Iowa corn country and it was everywhere. But hey it sounds pretty good the way they do it, I had to admit. Big Railroad Blues, a pretty good rocker and Playing in The Band, that one cooks. Play the next side and what? A drum solo, they are starting a record with a drum solo? But then there is this great bass line and really intense energy and great guitar and then it slows way down and speeds up and slows down and speeds up; this is different than any rock and roll I ever heard . But I think I like it, I think I like it a lot, I think. It’s kind of weird though. That must be the psychedelic part, but I kind of think I like it, lots, I think. Funny name, The Other One. OK, more rockers, Me and My Uncle, Big Boss Man, Me and Bobby McGee, Johnny B. Goode, great. Then a really slow song, “Wharf Rat”, I like the voice, but this is really kind of slow. Hey wait a minute, he just said fucker on a record! Wow, I think that’s cool. Then more great rockers Not Fade Away and Goin’ Down the Road. I must have played the whole album 20 or so times in the next week or so and played Bertha, Playing In the Band, Me and Bobby McGee, Johnny B. Goode and Not Fade Away about 100 times. Seriously, I was hooked. Finally Archie demanded he get his record back. I picked up a copy the next time we went to Cedar Rapids, 40 miles away. Next one was Europe 72 and I swear on the bridge between China Cat Sunflower and I Know You Rider some of kind of inner switch was turned on. You know what I mean. If you are here you understand. Then Truckin’ and the beauty of Morning Dew just strengthened it, whatever it was. I felt like the music was inside of me, like it was a vital part of me, an inner force. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. Wiliam Blake

Quite a beautiful picture you have painted with your words. I totally feel you.Thank you kindly For me it was Ramble on Rose: "Pace the halls & climb the walls and get out when they blow... The Grass ain't greener the wine ain't sweeter either side of the Hill Whoa Whao... Did you say your name was.."

Next buy was Anthem of The Sun and I was just amazed by the complexity and power and the 1st record with Viola Lee Blues which I played over and over and thought was mind blowing. Then came Live Dead with Dark Star, St. Stephen and the Eleven and it seemed as though I had just been given the key to open the gates to the universe. There was just a tremendous opening that happened. This was a new reality. I was on a cosmic journey. Then American Beauty and Workingman’s which just seemed to wrap around me and hug me with comfort and pleasure in simplicity and the roots and an appreciation for the little joys and the rural blue collar world I lived in. I was 16 and it was 1972 when I heard Skull and Roses and the world was exciting and I knew I was going to eventually get out of this farming and manufacturing town. I also knew that I was not going to end up in some war in Asia shooting at someone or being shot at for Tricky Dick or his bunch of idiots, no way, I knew I would find a way to avoid that, that was the big part of any future plans. My friends and I were becoming Freaks. We were reading books by Abbie Hoffman, Alan Watts, Kurt Vonnegut, Carlos Castaneda; The Greening of America, Future Shock, A Child’s Garden of Grass, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, The Making of A Counterculture, Zap Commix and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and underground newspapers from Iowa City and turning on. We listened to the bands from Woodstock and San Francisco and David Peel and Bob Dylan and Firesign Theater and of course the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Who. As time went on our identification with the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were part of what gave us our common brotherhood and made us stand out. Some of you are smiling now as you read this because you were there with us in different places throughout the country. We were the Freaks! For our graduation in 1974 we nominated Truckin’ as our class song and it would have won had not all the straights tripped out on the fact that the Freaks were going to have a song by the Grateful Dead be the class song. People were actually lobbied not to vote for Truckin’, girls told their boyfriends not to or else! We lost. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. Wiliam Blake

So shoot ahead to 1978 and listening to the band all that time, even finding awesome bootleg records (sorry, but one was 2/13/70 which blew me away) and it all being wrapped in with reading the Beats and learning to meditate and having the Whole Earth Catalog be my bible and backpacking and hitchhiking and altered hikes in the woods. The show was 2/5/78 at the UNI Dome, University of Northern Iowa and only a few in our group of extended friends had seen them because they hadn’t played around here for four years. Some of us had been primed for this for six or seven years. There was the actual Jerry Garcia on stage playing for us! It was so much better than we had ever even imagined. We were yelling at each other “I can’t believe we are finally seeing the Grateful Dead” and they played Truckin’ and we were blissful dancing screaming beaming fools. We were hearing our band at last. We were home. Postscript This year I jumped at the chance to see Merle Haggard and he did Mama Tried. Besides the joy of the Dead’s music and scene itself is the fact that it opened me up to so much including all styles of music. Peace and love and joy to all of you my fellow heads If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. Wiliam Blake

Iknowyourider - thanks for your kind words, glad to share and give someone a smile, that's what it's all about and thank you for sharing too deadicated - the Keith and Donna record wow, I mean the girl with the Keith and Donna record; all sorts of entry points I mean openings I mean portals, to the world of the Dead aren't there? If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. Wiliam Blake

A blue double dome and Live/Dead. Waaaaaay back then.Thanks to The Flying Eyeball Express for piquing my curiousity

I was only 13 years old and had listened to a few albums the week before the show. Went with two great friends and heard my first live help>slip>franklin and the most incredible Stella Blue i ever heard and have been on the bus ever since but what really kept me on the bus was Hampton, VA 4/13/84... 4/13/84 was Magical ! it was an unusually warm spring nigt in Hampton Virginia. the pre-show parking lot was exceptionally magical and it seemed that everyone was having schweet, positive mind experiences to get what was later proven to be a legendary evening. Hampton again prooved to groove with a melodic sound system which JG and the entire gang played off of each other and melted into/outof every tune. the second set opened with a scarlet>fire>estimated with every voice in the crowd singing every note as if we wrote it ourself. the set ended with every single person, boy, girl, old, young dancin to Good Luv'n then all together took a relaxing break to mellow down organize our minds and begin to anticipate what they could stir up and serve us for an encore? as we were trippin down, relaxing and smile'in as one... there was the faint sound of thunder and the flash of lightening through the small>blue>triangular> windows like crashing saphires that encircle the ceiling of the Hampton Coliseum. they eased us into a powerful U.S. Blues encore and when all wrapped up we left as one body as we left the building for the parking lot. We were fully expecting and anxiously awaiting to enjoy a warm, April thundershower. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED, it was actually cold with no wind, no lightening, no rain, no sound....nothing! as i looked around all my brothers and sisters were doing one of two things (1) standing still looking up at the sky or (2) laying down looking up at the sky. Eventually, it seemed that all 20,000 of us were laying down and looking up at the sky as we were in the EYE of a very organized storm GoD and GD layed out just for us that night. we soaked in a perfect circle in the sky with the most brilliant stars of diamonds and pitch black around them with a brilliant and bright sunshine moon. we could see and faintly hear the lightening and thunder way off in the distance outside of our personal circle but that was of no concern to any of us at that moment. it took about 20 minutes for the storm center to pass over and we then enjoyed our belated, refreshing, spring thundershower. We were given a schweet and magical gift that night in Hampton-84 not to mention and never forget the MUSIC! that is how i remember it....anyone else remember that MAGICAL NIGHT? 143or245 stay safe and feel good!

I would say it was my first show. Which (sadly, I never saw jerry :( ) was Phil & friends, July 23rd (i think?), 2001. I was invited by a guy who was the manager of a different department in the garden center I worked at. I had listened to the dead a little, and thought it would be fun. Plus this guy was just sooooo cool and soooo impressed me with his vast knowledge of plants and music and life. He was 2 years younger than me, and so friggin smart! So, I went. And we clicked like souls separated and now drawn together. I loved the music, the atmosphere, and this cute sweet happy little hippy man next to me. He had been to tons of shows since the time he was 16. Had owned this boss VW bus that he sold on his 18th year the day after Jerry died. He IS the ultimate fan if I ever met one. He knows every single song, and his photographic memory helped him to give me this wonderful gift. Alas, he had a girlfriend- live in- that he was to scared of hurting her to break it off with. To him, I was this happy little gypsy-like girl, who was fun, but no one thought we should be together, he should be all business - or whatever. So, about a year later (and 5 shows together), he ran away back home to Florida. I didn't see or hear from him for 5 years. It broke every piece of me. I never felt happy about love, life, or even the music for that whole time.Then, in about... November of '06 I found him on myspace. He doesn't even have a real page, he just signed up. But I pm'd him, and surprise! He emailed me. We started chatting. I was married and had just had my baby. So, we kept it very nice and proper. Then I guess, when my husband started acting like a complete retard, spending our rent money and then eventually our couples counciling money that his DAD had to give us, on pot. Well, I guess I figured it wasn't worth it. And I thought about how my sweet little hippy man had always said that we were 'tangled up in blue'. That we'd end up having to go our separate ways for now, but that one day, we'd meet again. He'd made me a c.d. (5 years back) with jerry's version, and it killed me to listen to it after he had left. Now I was thinking about how he just happened to come back into my life, and so I told my dumb ass husband, to hit the bricks. And I had my first visit to Florida in July. About 5 years and a month to the day of our last seeing each other, we were together again. And we knew it was fate. I moved here (to Fl) officially on September 3rd. And as we were pulling into the gates of his home, and my new one, with my beautiful little girl in the back seat... everyone's happy and smiling... what do you think came on the radio? Yup, ol' bob dylan, singing tangled up in blue. I threw my notebook and pen that I had been drawing in at my honey and started bawling! I couldn't believe how fate works and how crazy it was! We were out of the blue. We were home. Forever. On november 17th we're going to see bobby in Boca Raton. Our first show in 5 years. Our first show as a legitimate couple. He's the reason I got on the bus. And he's the reason I will always stay. Because he gave me this beautiful music. From the heart. It stayed in my heart and soul, even while he was away. Jerry sang me back home. Jerry told me that it must have been the roses. Jerry sang about how it looks like rain. And jerry, sang the heartbreaking truth about being tangled up in blue. Now, Jerry sing's my baby to sleep with if I had the world to give, standing on the moon, and ship of fools. He sings Days between while my honey and I make love, and terrapin station while I wash the dishes. I vaccume to franklin's tower, and then I take a nap to stella blue. My whole life is the bus now. And I am takin it to shakedown street, baby.

tourdog12 I was 13 years old in 77 sleeping at a freinds house with his parents away for the weekend. around midnight his older brother came home sat me down smoked two bowls put on mars hotel and handed me the Hobbit and told me to read. I got on the bus that night hand in hand with hobbits and a bowl of pipe weed. it took two years to get to my first live show but i listened to every thing i could get my hands on till then

I think it was when I was 17 or so, I had a couple grateful dead greatest hits and stuff at the time but I ended up at the local pawn shop at the right time one day and purchased another 10 or so grateful dead cd's including one of the dicks picks and live dead. After that there was pretty much no going back. "You know the one thing we need is a left handed monkey wrench....."

I bought Wake of the Flood, and played it constantly. 1972, and I was also listening to a lot of Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin. The Dead just sounded different, I dunno, like music for your head but also feel good for the heart. Here Comes Sunshine....When entering high school we had dances and at first I thought it was the strangest thing I'd ever seen, people dancing to Dead Music. But lot's of fun! My first show was at Oakland, outdoors, a double bill with the Who. The stage was beautifully decorated with a Mars Hotel scene hanging over the speaker towers and with plants on the stage. I was puddled, and just couldn't believe that Playing in the Band. Wow! Never joined the bus exactly, but saw a lot of shows in California. Congratulations to "Grateful April" . Some advice about marriage-If you do fight, fight naked!

Great stuff. Best wishes.

My oldest brother took me, my other brother, and friends to the Stanley 3/5 and 3/6 1981. The second show got me on the bus. Jerry singing LORD YOU CAN SEE THAT IT'S TRUE. Unbelievable!!!! Everyone was groovin, the smell of good dope in the air, I was hooked!!!

Storytelling, Hal!!!!!!!! :-)********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens

I can really relate to Hal's story. BTW, we used to call the "Skull and Roses" album, "Twin Pack" 'round these parts (I don't know why) and it was the second album I heard by the Grateful Dead, after "Anthem of the Sun". God I still remember hearing "Bertha" for the first time! I really dug the straight on rockin' sound of Jerry's guitar, with Bob unleashing his at just the moment to make one's mind take the ramped turns at top speed. There aren't many periods of my life I'd choose to live over again, but those rank as high as any other, imo. Try to see what's going down Try to read between the lines... "Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision." - Norman Mailer

wow, the things you miss when you don't browse this ever growing board... I grew up on on the dark, rough side of my own Shakedown Street, and the bus was a natural ride into a new philosophy and way of looking at things, not to mention the music. doing what felt right, still doing what feels right. hoping I am doing it right. love and peace

It’s funny, marye that you were impressed by all the 14 year old hippies. I was impressed by all the old hippies - they were 5-15 years older than me. They had lived the whole 60's thing and had long dropped out of the mainstream if they had ever even been a part of it. Yes, it did look like these long haired bearded men and long haired women in peasant clothing had just walked out of the Hobbit or some other fantasy. Lots of homemade touches to the clothes. There were still hippies out there, they had just been laying low in the woods and the farms. I had never seen so many in one place. I was in awe. One of the other cool things about this show was that it started with Bertha, like many shows at this time, but that was the first song I had listened to and really dug deeply. Part of the show ended up on Dick's Picks #18 - the last disc, released 22 years after the show. It was as good as I remembered and Dick thought so too. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. Wiliam Blake

I guess it was the American Beauty album, but before that could happen there were 4 things that led to it.1) In Feb of '68 the Grateful Dead were scheduled to perform at my church. Not your typical church. Fountain Street Baptist church in Grand Rapids, MI. Among those asked to speak there who did so are Susan B. Anthony, Robert Frost, Stokley Carmichael, and recently Michael Moore. Among the rock bands I saw there are Steppenwolf, Moody Blues, Humble Pie (w/ Frampton), Frank Zappa, and King Crimson (place held 4,000 or so). My mom was a Sunday school teacher there and she knew I dug rock music, so she got me a ticket to see the Dead. Unfortunately the show was cancelled due to a fierce snowstorm. They played in Detroit just before this and it was deemed unsafe to drive the 150 miles to Grand Rapids in this weather, so no show, but at least now I've heard of them 2) In summer of 1970 I'm hitching in Utah with my brother and we got picked up by people in a van who had Live Dead playing on 8 track. I remember the part between St. Stephen and The Eleven. Thought it was cool. Now I've actually heard their music. 3) For spring break in '71 I went to visit my sister who lived in Brooklyn, NY. The first day I wanted to "explore" so she showed me how the subway system worked and had me buy a couple of albums for her, one of which was Workingman's Dead. I remember really liking the harmony on Uncle John's Band. Her next door neighbors spent time with me and said they liked the Dead. 4) Three months later I finally got to see them, and wow what an occasion. My brother was now living in San Francisco in a step van he usually parked at the corner of Turk and Gough right there by the freeway entrance. I hitched out there not long after the school year ended and about 2 weeks after I got there was closing week at Fillmore West. Went to all the shows and smack dab in the middle of them was Grateful Dead, New Riders, and the Rowan Bros. Jerry played steel guitar for the New Riders and the Rowan Bros. so he was on stage for roughly 6 hours that night. Someone in the crowd was passing out blotter acid so I did some and I couldn't tell you what songs they played; I still hadn't heard much of their music, but I was close to stage in front of Phil and was just in awe of the whole scene. Later that year I bought American Beauty and after that I wanted to buy everything of theirs I could get my hands on.

Freshman year in college, having discovered *ahem* a whole bunch of things I didn't know much about, somebody in the dorm spun me a side of "Skull and Roses." From the moment Phil's bass roared into "The Other One" and blasted me up into the air where I hovered for about 30 seconds, I got on the bus. I got off the bus- in the sense of going to shows- after Minneapolis in 1989. The scene had changed, it was no longer like hanging out with 10,000 of your best friends. While the music still rocked, the trash-n-boogie gimme-a-miracle mentality didn't. I was outa there. Thank the powers that be for tapers! Music to the soul generously gifted to 'heads around the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I had heard the song "Touch of Grey" and thought it was alright, but nothing that really blew away my 15 year old mind. I saw them first on a documentary called "It was 20 Years Ago Today", and it got me into the 60's full on. The music in the background to their scene was from Anthem of the Sun, although I wouldn't know this for years. I thought, hmm...thats some pretty freaky music. Maybe I should get into them too (I just just gotten into Pink Floyd). I remember the concert in Oct. 1988 in Houston was not what I expected. It wasn't really 60's freakout music, but the people there were friendly. That winter another documentary came on Cinemax called "Domino". It was a movie without dialogue, just some Super 8mm footage of sixties footage. While showing footage of napalm spewn over the jungles of Vietnam, a very beautiful instrumental came on. I checked the credits at the end, and recognized most of the names but then say "Dark Star: The Grateful Dead". Something told me thats what it was. They had edited out Jerry's vocals but somehow I just knew. I went to the record store and bought Live/Dead on cd in early 1989. It just floored me. I then bought the first album looking for that freakout music (Alligator/Caution) from the earlier documentary. It wasnt on there, but liked the first album as a good garage/psych record. I then went on a feeding frenzy, mostly sticking to the live albums since everyone said they were a better live band than studio band (including Jerry). Skull and Roses, Without a Net, One From The Vault, Reckoning... For a few years I hung out at the Last Concert Cafe here in Houston and caught The Hightailers, who started as a Dead cover band before turning into their own Cajun flavored jam band. It was the closest to seeing them since they never came back to Texas until the Willie Nelson picnic in 2004 as The Dead. I hope to see some incarnation again in the coming year, would love to see them perform as The Dead. This time I think I will have to travel...

it was 1968...I was in high school in St. Louis and had gotten a hold of a Ramparts magazine and read an article about San Francisco, the bands and the whole scene out there including a band called the Grateful Dead...being into the underground FM radio scene in St. Louis, I saw that the Grateful Dead were playing at the National Guard Armory in downtown St. Louis so I bought tickets...kinda of knowing but not knowing what to expect...I will never forget that show as long as I live...at the end of the show one of the drummers, I think it was Mickey Hart, jumped up, grabbed a mike off the mike stand and went to the large stand-up cymbal (musta been five feet in diameter) and began slamming the mike into it...then he took the mike which was still working and began to move the mike in a circular motion around and on the face of the cymbal itself creating the most incredible sounds...it was at that point, I decided to move my physical body to where these guys lived so I could see more of these shows...so I got into a college in Melno Park, California and started going to every show I could at Fillmore West, the Family Dog, Winterland etc. etc...so based on the 1st show in St. Louis, Missouri at the National Guard Armory, I changed my own life path and have never looked back...from 1995, backwards, I have paricipated in some 135 shows and going forwards, have seen all the shows I could possibly get to which includes RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, the Other Ones, the Dead, the Furthur Festivals etc. etc....thanks and stay in touch

I had been into psychedelic music previous to becoming a Head, The Beatles,Pink Floyd lots of 1967 era music. I had read a review about an album called "Anthem Of The Sun" which had a groovy title and cover on it, so I decided to buy it. I knew that The Grateful Dead had a certain mystique and all the fellow Heads who loved them so. I never heard much of them to understand why,(what wasted youth!), but I decided I'd start with Anthem. I was not impressed at first, but that was only because the music was not what I wanted it to be. Later I listened to it without biased ears and was blown away! The whole weaving in and out and sped up sounds and jamming opened up a brand new dimension. (note: listening to music with headphones in the dark really makes a grand experience) But the true catalyst was a tape of The Filmore in '71, starting with Bertha and going into Playing In The Band.(I had never heard Playing In The Band before.) The X Factor was a completely euphoric emotion, the audience clapping in tune, a semi religious experince (Satori, perhaps?) A warm tingling feeling shooting up my spine, it felt like I could see Jerry grinning and saying "Hop on." This happened on Friday 14th of 2007 at about 9 PM EST. I knew that I was not the only person to have this emotion. I am 18 and just now came here to join my fellow friends who have felt as I have.

Has anyone seen "Into the Wild"? It's about a young man who, driven by demons from an unhappy childhood, goes on a quest by himself into the Alaska wilderness. The movie, produced by Sean Penn, is based on a true story that was covered first in Outside magazine and later in a book. Along the road on his way from his hometown in the East Coast, our protagonist meets a variety of people and touches their lives. Ultimately he dies in Alaska. When he realizes the end is near, he comes to an epiphany that happiness needs to be shared. At many points during my watching it, I found myself thinking, "If only this guy had found Dead tour ... !" I couldn't escape the thought, as the character reminded me of many people I met on Dead tour, and the events of the story took place in the early 1990s.

My first show was in Cleveland 1973 (hometown) with a close circle of HIGHschool friends. We were all into the same stuff at the time.Really pretty diverse,from Bowie to Stones,King Crimson to Zeppelin,Yes and ELP and Airplane to Mothers and Janis.Someone said 'we got to go check out the Dead. I think our tickets were around $7.50 and the show was hot. Not long as shows go but power packed with great music. Weather report and a great Dark Star that I was not to hear again for a long time.I cannot say this show got me 'on the bus' but it really opened my eyes as to the bigger picture. We had all begun 'experimenting' by this time and had seen some amazing shows by this time. But the boys seemed to have 'it' when it came to 'knowing' what was needed to secure a great ride. Life went on and so did time. Graduated,witnessed 'Kent State' and the slayings and I learned to Think for Myself, Question Authority. Bought a motorcycle after reading 'Zen and the art of M/C Maint.' and went for a ride. I ended up in Los Angeles in the summer of '76. Made my stab at acting,and a million other jobs. Made my way to the beaches south of the Airport and found a new home. Great times and good people. This was the times of great sex and incredible drugs. Met a guy that had a kindred spirit in '77' and we decided (ok,I decided) we needed to be roomates. One stony night at our beach front home, he dropped on a series of Dead LP's like Wake,Live,Europe and then Blues for Allah, That was it,I had to see them again. Mark was totally into them and he had all the tour dates coming up and suggested we hit some shows. That began the bus ride in '78 for me. Things have never been the same. Some great times and some of the best folk to call family. Many a relationship still continue to this day even Mark! Like others the bus slowed a bit in the late 80's and early 90's because the whole scene changed-to many folk there for the drugs and the party and not the music and family and tribal stomp. I never got to see Jerry near the end, I'm glad I only have great memories and really miss all of you! Happy New Weir! Love to all-DarrellNe ver had such a good time...........

and it had been a musical roadtrip beginning in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium on Friday night (6-14-74) with the Allman Bros. Band rocking us all. That was quite a hot show and ABB were loud and the guitarwork on their raucous blues and rock was stratospheric. We got up early and were travelling in my convertable VW bug (top down) and took country roads all the back to the Des Moines Fairground. Yes, that is because we were not fit to drive on the interstate nor the highways with regular citizens, but staying on those gravel roads with occasional stops for exploration fit the bill. Tickets to see the Grateful Dead ($3.75?), show starts at 1:00 on Sunday. This would be quite a treat, as I had never seen the band before, but had listened avidly to the same albums that Hal and others discussed earlier (Europe 72, Skeleton & Roses, etc.) and the weather was wonderful as we traversed those backroads, laughing, partying, and goofing to our hearts content. Needless to say the statutes of limitations have lapsed on that prankster period but I will stick to the show story as opposed to the side trip. We pulled into a campground and set up camp and as was our penchant 'back int he daze' began furiously rolling smokeable party favors for the looming Dead show. The next day we arrived at the venue and it turned out to be a wonderful outdoor spot with the 'Wall of Sound' erected several hunderd yards in front of the Fairgrounds covered grandstand. We were standing out front milling about, being part of the show and watching others do their part, frizbee, t-shirts (still have mine, a threadbare wonderful homemade "Garcia" image), sales of various items and all of a sudden we hear "the show will start at 12:30, so we decide to head on in. I heard later they thought is might rain so they started early. (I never since saw an early start of a Dead show, have you?) It is hard to describe how striking that 'Wall of sound" was sitting in front of us. It was simply immense. The Allman Bros. sound system was loud 2 nights before but was absolutely dwarfed by this massive scaffolding & speaker construction. CSNY's system wasn't even 1/2 of this and they blew our socks off. So what would this sound like? We all ran about before the shows and there was a little stand for Rounder records with some minature album covers advertising Jerry's new album, a Kingfish album and the Grateful Dead's upcoming release "Mars Hotel". I marvelled at the wonderful illustration of a seedy hotel on a Martian landscape. Little did I understand what I was about to witness. Party favors circled about and the crowd swelled against that elevated stage in anticipation. The band had played here last summer and I had heard from my grinning buddies about the "double rainbow' that appeared on cue (as was so prone to happen at the Dead shows) during that show. The show started and the Dead ambled out to tune up. There is Keith on his grand piano, Billy at his drums in the middle under this cylindrical-suspended-speaker-section, Phil in his shades, and Bobby with a flannel shirt (to ward of the cool breez blowing in). But who was that in a red 'Mars Hotel' sweatshirt? It looks like a chubby Dustin Hoffman. No it's JERRY, he shaved off his beard! He still had massive sideburns ala the sixties. They tuned up and began playing and off we go-"Bertha" yes!!!!!!!!! and the crystaline sound of that system. Unbefuckiin'liveable, just off the charts, beeffy bass, and loud!!!! Weeee!!!! There is Donna singing along. And the Grateful Dead took me on a journey, of americana, country, space, rock, jam, fable, fun, rollar coaster, turn on a dime. Something else. My first Scarlet Begonias and I thought it was going to be China Cat when I heard those first simmering leads. But after that I was then gifted with my first China Cat> I know you Rider. Mexixcalli, Row Jimmy, Around and Around and others were in that first set. Then the first break. This was the old days and this was to be a 3 set show. Second set included a etheareal Eyes of the World that magically segued into Big River. Other new and old tunes. This is Stupifying, I was thunderstruck with Phil's bass bombs and then a staggering Playin' in the Band to end the second set. My mouth was hanging agape, I look to my buddies, and they stared wide-eyed back at me. The Dead will be back for more? Another set? How much more can they show us. I thought that I am saturated, no more wonder will fill this cranium. My buddy who had been at last year's show smiles knowingly at me and leans back with that Neal Cassady guffaw and we all break up giggling. Then yes, the Dead come out to astound us with more tales, mysteries, and celebrations,.... Set 3 Truckin'>Wharf Rat> Nobody's Fault Jam> Going Down The Road Feeling Bad and the encore was Casey Jones. Beyond belief........... We staggered back to the VW to make the trek home to Lincoln, Nebraska. What!! It is 6:00? How long did these guys play?!!!!!!!!!! How long indeed. That is how I got on the bus. And I am enjoying the ride!

If you had a higher time that summer I'd like to know what it could have been. I wish only that I could have been on that '74 summer bus with you - GREAT story. "From day to day, just lettin' it ride, You get so far away from how it feels inside, You can't let go, 'cause you're afraid to fall, But the day may come when you can't feel at all."

i was a blessed child. my borthers are 9 and 15 years older then me. i imagine that is where i first heard the album. i remember laying there listening a feeling so drawn in. side two was my favorite but the album in a whole put me in a transe at the tender age of ten or eleven when it was first released. after that i discovered anthem of the sun on my own and that was it for me. i use to play the albums and fall asleep to the soothings sounds. then europe 72 came out and i heard it at my cousins. i had just started smoking pot and was blown away to hear them like that. i was a dead head before i knew what one was. i had never met anyone who was really into them until i was in high school and this guy named turk moved in down the street. he had all these boot legs and let me listen to them. i was so curious but still didn't get to see them for a few more years. i just remember the feeling i had when i made it to my first show. like i had come home.

Human curiosity and the thirst for adventure got me on The Bus. I had no real idea what to expect and simply surrendered control and jumped into my friend’s car without a ticket. What kept me on the bus was the live experience of a Dead show. All the songs on the radio or on someone else’s stereo didn’t even HINT at what I experienced in that safe, quantum vortex that band and audience could create anywhere. I’d been a spiritual seeker since I’d been old enough to ask a question, and I found the confirmation of all I’d suspected there in the magical interactions between crowd and band. All the hippie Zen shit that my parents and their friends had recited to me finally made sense and rang true. It wasn’t a lie. What The Grateful Dead were doing came from the best ideas humankind had come up with in centuries. It was the product of human potential actualized. And once I understood where the music came from, I understood the music. Once I understood the music, I could comprehend the magic.

a girl named joan, the electric kool-aid acid test and one flew over the cookoos nest.

What got me on the bus wasn't a Dead show...I'm a young guy and Jerry died when I was 4 so unfortunately I didnt get to experience the Dead as they should be..but a GD cover band "Cubensis" played in a rock festival in Ojai, CA and it was the first time I had heard the Dead, from what I can remember, and their live performance just grabbed me and I was immediately hooked.

Sometime around 76. We were all listening to the records, getting high and doing whatever we could find. The bus seemed to creep up on me, slow and steady outa the blue. We would have Europe 72 playing during gymnastic practice every day. Then Skull & Roses in the house. Somewhere along the line my sister played Live Dead and American Beaty for me.Then I find myself taking the train into MSG for a Yes concert in the summer of 76. We dosed up, walked around the city in the afternoon. When it was time to go in, I just was wishin it was a Dead show. After that, I just waited at the bus stop till Englishtown the next summer. The bus came by, and I got on...

This is the tune that got me hooked. Totally underrated!

I was 11 years old in 1970 and was turned on to the dead from an older friend of a younger friend. Trish Menard, she attended a GD family wedding and took photos. I was impressionable and jumped on to listen to their vinyl. I would go to sleep at night to Wake of the Flood, couple of years passed and I still listened to the dead, but was unaware of the tours - damn it. When I got into college, my roommate came in sight unknown and saw my Rolling Stones posters, before I knew it I was on my way to a show, with sugar cups in my coffee. The rest is pure history. YEE HAW. When I die bury me, grateful dead playing at my feet.

Although I listened to the Dead from the time of Mars Hotel (my older brother played the album a lot and I loved Scarlet Begonias), and I bought the album Blues for Allah as a senior in High School because of the cover art, but did grow to love the tunes, I never really got on the Bus until that trip (capital T folks) : ) to White Sands. I attended New Mexico State University (NMSU...we called it "Enema Zoo") which is in Las Cruces (we called it Lost Causes, Loose Crotches, etc.). Anyway, it was February of 1979 and I was at a party on a Friday night and was talking to a fellow swimmer (yes I was a college athlete) named Tom Hejna who was from Chicago. He and I weren't particularly "close" but that changed over the years. He is like a brother to me now and has been since that party (well, the next day really). We were both chatting it up with beers at this party and up came the discussion of sykuhdelix, and he asked me if I had ever well, done any. I told him about some of the Zappa concerts I had seen whilst tuned in. Anyway, he tells me that his uncle (15 years older than us) had given him something that he (the uncle) had kept airtight and well contained since 1968, and it was called Orange Sunshine. I was like, cool.... The next day Tom calls me and asks if I want to join him in a little trip out to White Sands. The day is glorious, about 70 degrees, brilliantly sunny, and not a breeze to be had. It was late February, and spring in southern New Mexico was in full bloom. So, he picked me up, said, here, swallow this, and off we went. Now for those of you who don't know about White Sands, it's about 500 square miles of pure white (snow colored-literally) gypsum dunes. They rise about 50 feet at their peak, and it's a sea of them by the time you drive into the heart of the dunes. We arrive, by this time Tom is pretty glad he doesn't have to drive anymore, and I'm like, holy sh_t, it's been awhile and damn, everything is so.....yeah, like that. We pull out towels and yank off our shirts to soak up the sun and climb a dune. We're set. Camp is ready, we had grabbed some snacks to keep us from going hungry and water to keep us quenched. Tom then say's oh yeah, one more thing, and runs back down the dune to his car, where he puts in a tape of Europe 72, and turns the volume UP. Well, that day is more or less like a big white sand dune of a sun-shiny daydream, but let me tell you, the environment, the pure blue sky, the mountains surrounding us, especially Sierra Blanca, the sacred mountain to the Mescalero Apache Indians capped with snow 50 miles to our north, and the Dead hitting us with the bliss that is Europe 72, and all I could think was, my life has now changed. What a day it was. Hours later (and me telling him he MUST play that tape again) on the drive home, we rolled back into good old Las Cruces feeling like a couple of Cosmonauts that were giggling just a little bit too much for the conservative town we were in. This was realized when we were in a mexican restaurant having a difficult time ordering our dinner. Dang that Uncle of Tom's, and from then on the song "Me and my Uncle" was to me, a tribute to my dear friend Tom's uncle. I told him to thank him for the "present." And that night back at my apartment I quickly found my Blues For Allah album and whipped out my sketch pad and the night went rolling on ever so nicely. ; ) That's how I got on the bus. About a year and a half later, with my pal Tom, I finally got to see the Band I adored. And that my friends, is another story altogether. ~Tom ( The AllTomMitt Drawing Machine)

I was born and raised in Philly.I have an older brother.I knew he was into the Dead.And I love music period.So anyway I was ordering 10 or 12 lp's from Colombia House music co.You know,mail them a penny and get alot music.So I was running out of choices,and I saw Terrapin Station.I thought I would do my brother a favor and get him that.So a big box comes in the mail with all the vinyl.I prelistened to Terrapin and have never looked back.And I never gave him the album.

I would seriously have to say it was when I was 13 at the time. I remember it quite clearly. It was a beautiful spring day and I had the radio on, when I heard the first Grateful Dead song ever to fall on my ears. Scarlet Begonias it was, and from then on I was hooked.

fall of 72, 1st week of class in highschool sr.yr., i quote from my now longest deadhead friend(whom i had just met 2days earlier) russel "fuck you coondawg,eat shit, you never tripped!" no really, i say...2nd week; saturday detention(yes, i'm in trouble already) til 11am, russ and i meet outside after, he pulls out a small orange pellet and cuts it in half and gives one to me, we head out for forest preserve hitchhiking, takes about 10min to get to main road another 10 before a ride picks us up, happens to be good friend of russells, i'm in backseat between speakers with music playing, russ and friend are talkingin front seat, friend looks in reaview and smiles, pops in a new cassette, we're chattin away nicely in a quiet space and CRASHCRASHtinkletinkletinkle, strange sounds shooting THIS way and THAT around the interior of the car, then muffled voices, DOCTOR... DO't THINK,doN'T THink....then softly and beautifully...To lay me down once more, to lay me down With my head in sparkling clover Let the world go by, all lost in dreamin..... let us out at a 7/11, i said wide eyed..what was that, russ's friend smiled and said GARCIA... stood in line watching cheese danish melt on the counter, my ticket was punched, unlimited transfers for life and left my change:)))note to previous post:girl named joan,was my older(6yr)sisters friend, joan cary,my ideal beautiful hippie girl still, who talked of jerrys guitar playing being orgasmic to my sister as i listened in..thx

1987, I'm 13 years old. My two favorite bands are Van Halen and Pink Floyd. So my older brother takes me to see Pink Floyd, I'm like wow, flying pigs and shit and it's REALLY LOUD. Cool. My older sister's more into country, which I thought was so weird, but she had this one record, all skulls and roses and stuff. "Hmm, the Grateful Dead?" So I put it on and the first thing I hear is Bertha and I'm immediately smitten (I've noticed that song seems to be a catalyst for a lot of folks here..). So I trot down to the local Harmony House with the intent to find something else by these weirdos and I pick up the cassette with the weirdest looking cover and a name I still can't pronounce. Wow, weird tales of jewel theives and Olympus Mons and this just ridiculously infectious bouncy tune called China Cat Sunflower, another real cool tune called Doin' That Rag, shit, I don't even know what that means... So a few months go by and What?! These guys have a video?! This tune is all over the radio?! Man, I didn't even know they were still around....So life goes by and I get into other things, The Pixies, Jane's Addiction, some other stuff... but still keeping the Dead in heavy rotation, especially once I discovered Live/Dead; the playing on the Eleven just takes me to another stratosphere.... tried to take a road trip to Chicago but my buddy's car breaks down and he sells it to a local mechanic for 50 bucks. All we have is our sleeping bags and some acid... and my boombox and the one cassette I brought, Aoaxomoxoa. Hitchhiked across the state with nought but those accoutrements... So finally the Dead come to my town when I'm of age to go see them, I'm 17 and I'm driving this little Ford Escort, me and my friend Dan. As we're nearing the Palace, we're getting excited cause we're seeing so many VW buses and hippies and pretty girls and... well, lots of everything we liked. So of course the little Escort breaks down as we round the curb for the venue entrance. Shit! What now?! Lo and behold, the car starts moving again and I look up to see half a dozen Heads surrounding my car, easing it past the gate where I hold the 5 bucks out the window for the attendant to grab as we sail by, and floating right into the perfect parking spot, all those friendly faces guiding us all the way and I knew right then and there that I was HOME AT LAST. The story goes on...

1987, I'm 13 years old. My two favorite bands are Van Halen and Pink Floyd. So my older brother takes me to see Pink Floyd, I'm like wow, flying pigs and shit and it's REALLY LOUD. Cool. My older sister's more into country, which I thought was so weird, but she had this one record, all skulls and roses and stuff. "Hmm, the Grateful Dead?" So I put it on and the first thing I hear is Bertha and I'm immediately smitten (I've noticed that song seems to be a catalyst for a lot of folks here..). So I trot down to the local Harmony House with the intent to find something else by these weirdos and I pick up the cassette with the weirdest looking cover and a name I still can't pronounce. Wow, weird tales of jewel theives and Olympus Mons and this just ridiculously infectious bouncy tune called China Cat Sunflower, another real cool tune called Doin' That Rag, shit, I don't even know what that means... So a few months go by and What?! These guys have a video?! This tune is all over the radio?! Man, I didn't even know they were still around....So life goes by and I get into other things, The Pixies, Jane's Addiction, some other stuff... but still keeping the Dead in heavy rotation, especially once I discovered Live/Dead; the playing on the Eleven just takes me to another stratosphere.... tried to take a road trip to Chicago but my buddy's car breaks down and he sells it to a local mechanic for 50 bucks. All we have is our sleeping bags and some acid... and my boombox and the one cassette I brought, Aoaxomoxoa. Hitchhiked across the state with nought but those accoutrements... So finally the Dead come to my town when I'm of age to go see them, I'm 17 and I'm driving this little Ford Escort, me and my friend Dan. As we're nearing the Palace, we're getting excited cause we're seeing so many VW buses and hippies and pretty girls and... well, lots of everything we liked. So of course the little Escort breaks down as we round the curb for the venue entrance. Shit! What now?! Lo and behold, the car starts moving again and I look up to see half a dozen Heads surrounding my car, easing it past the gate where I hold the 5 bucks out the window for the attendant to grab as we sail by, and floating right into the perfect parking spot, all those friendly faces guiding us all the way and I knew right then and there that I was HOME AT LAST. The story goes on...

sorry bout the double post..

seeing Pigpen in the Haight & the band playing in the Panhandle/Golden Gate Park wondering why everyone was smiling @ me (I was 13 or 14) took me a couple of years to figure out the answer. .......& off I went from the 1st time..........

When I was a senior in high school a friend told me about an interesting band called the Grateful Dead & their LP "Anthem of the Sun"...in the summer of 1969 I found this album in a Caldor department store along with "Aoxomoxoa". I had to choose one, so bought "Anthem" & listened to it repeatedly for months. My first Dead concert came in January 1970 at the Fillmore East, which I attended "straight" (and had trouble sorting out the band members except T.C. & Pigpen!). But my eyes & ears were opened to the Dead's musical magic in the fall of 1970 at Dickinson College by listening to "Live/Dead", "Workingman's Dead" & "American Beauty" in the context of smoke-filled rooms in an off-campus house with many friends after a long day of classes & study...then came the "acid test" of the Dead show (with NRPS) at George Washington University in Washington DC...the lights came up, "Uncle John's Band" played & I was there! Jay

I just got on the bus about a month ago. I’m 43, and having been a teen in the early eighties, listened mainly to metal. I was aware of the Dead, thought the bones and roses design was cool, but never listened to them past the odd playing of Truckin or Casey Jones on the radio. Lately I have been listening to Quicksilver Messenger Service and a friend mentioned that I should check out LiveDead. That hooked me. To be honest, I am not too keen on much past Workingman’s Dead, I prefer the more jam oriented stuff like Anthem. Fillmore West 69 has not left the CD player in weeks.

Welcome aboard. If you like jam oriented stuff, it does go beyond Workingman's era. Check out live shows from 72 and 77. The official early releases are just the tip of this tasty iceberg. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

I was about 13 or 14 when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" came out. It was so upfront happy, so basically affirming. That was the first tribal vibes I felt. Next came "Satisfaction" that gave the shine the polish and everybody was not only happy but cool too. I grew up in a big old victorian in San Francisco (Eureka Valley). My grandma had a restaurant on the waterfront (Rincon Hill), and we were and are seafaring people. Joe and Mrs. Garcia, Jerry's parents owned the bar across the street. My family bought a place about 50 miles north of the city in Sonoma County in '62, so I had two environments that in the early years were connected by the greyhound bus. I saw Bob Dylan on December 11, 1965 in the city. Soon after I went to the Filmore for the first time. I have no idea who played. I felt like I was going to go into the spins even before I got there and spent most of the evening sitting out on the fire escape smoking cigarettes, talking, listening and laughting. I saw the Dead for the first time in the summer of '66. There was a weird little handbill taped in the window of the Rexall drugstore in Sebastopol, Sonoma County. They played at the Vets Building in Santa Rosa and about 20 people were there. I was with 5 of the 20 and probably 8 to 10 of the others were with the Dead. Of course we all hung together. That was the night we got on the bus. By the next week ,we were sitting in the house (710). Any Deadhead who comes to the city should walk by 710. It's either 3 or 4 stories, with 18' ceilings. They had a payphone in the foyer. One of the great things about the Haight was how you go in one house and everyone was from Texas. The house next door everyone was from Ohio or New York. I have a friend who rented an inside stairwell closet for $10 a month. It was a nice little room. I got on the bus and I stayed on the bus. I still miss Pigpen. I love this good old bus.

thank you for sharing your marvelous times. How many of us here have dreamed of being where you were. You've been blessed. But then so have all of us that have been on this incredible ride. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

I still miss Pigpen, too, but totally enjoy hearing the old music of his..........on the bus for the rest of our lives! xoxo Gypsy Cowgirl

Cactuswax and docks of the city.......Great memories from the young and the not as young Thanks!