Grateful Dead

A wonderful show at rainy Alpine Valley. Go figure. The hill was soaked but still a great show because the scene had not yet exploded. These are the days when Alpine Valley was the place in the midwest.

In January of 1968 I was in the Army stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington. A few of us there had recently discovered the Eagle’s Auditorium in Seattle and we had been driving up to see some of the new music groups that were beginning to tour the area. Big Brother and the Holding Company had done a concert a few weeks earlier and we all had a great time. Our appearance made us stand out from most of the people there, with our short hair and black shoes, but nobody seemed to care. This time we were there to see the Grateful Dead. My most vivid memory of the evening is watching Pigpen play his organ. I think it was a Hammond B3 with a fan that was apparently controlled by a pedal and produced vibrato when it was activated. I was sitting far enough to the side of the stage that I got a good look at it and was fascinated with the way he used it. He played a great “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” on it. Years later I learned that this gig and others were recorded and some parts were used on “Anthem of the Sun.” Quicksilver Messenger Service was also on the bill and while they were playing Jerry was walking around the hall talking to people. He seemed to enjoy hanging with the fans and I’m sure that he was sorry that he couldn’t keep doing it in later years. After I got out of the Army and went back home to Illinois I told my friends about the Dead and was soon leading expeditions to the Kinetic Playground and other venues in and around Chicago to see them. The most memorable gig was at the Sound Storm Festival in Poynette, Wisconsin in April of 1970. That was when Mountain Girl was still touring with Jerry and I have a mental snapshot of her standing on the side of the stage smiling as they played “Dark Star.” But those are not the tours I wanted to tell you about. In 1985 I was married with two school-aged sons. In the previous decade I hadn’t seen many Dead shows. When the boys came along in the seventies there were suddenly other priorities. My buddy Bill and I wanted to drive up to Alpine Valley to see the June 22 concert and we had somehow convinced our wonderful wives to stay home and watch the kids so we could do it. In those days I was driving a ’72 Pinto on which I had recently replaced the cylinder head. The engine was running great and Bill and I were going to drive it to Wisconsin for the weekend. Two days before we were due to leave though, disaster struck. While I was driving home from work I pushed in the clutch petal to shift gears and something in the linkage snapped. The petal crashed to the floorboard and I was unable to engage the clutch. I coasted the car into a parking lot and got a ride home with a co-worker who saw my predicament. That night I called Bill and told him the bad news. I said I was sorry but he would have to drive to Alpine Valley. He was heartbroken. He said he was just going to call me and tell me that his car had broken down that day and he couldn’t get it fixed in time! We each consulted with our wives and discovered that, understandably, neither of them was willing to give up their car and be stuck at home with two kids and no wheels. Taking them along was not an option because they had already made other plans. Anyway we only had two tickets. The next day I took the train to work and I was telling my friend John about what happened. He had been a truck driver and was and still is a great mechanic. I told him I was going to get the car towed home and replace the clutch linkage but I probably didn’t have the time to do it before we were due to leave for Alpine Valley. “Clutches are optional,” he said. He explained that a car with a manual transmission can be driven without the use of the clutch if you know how to do it. He made me think of Neal Cassidy describing one of his jackless tire changes. “Push the car into a position where it can go forward. Then put the transmission in first gear and turn the starter. The car will lurch forward when you do it and when the engine starts you’ll be rolling along in first gear. Rev it up to the point where you want to shift and put the transmission in neutral. Then put light pressure on the gear shift lever toward the second gear position. When the speed of the engine matches the speed of second gear, it will fall into the gear. Repeat the process until you’re in fourth gear.” “What about downshifting,” I asked? “Put the transmission in neutral and rev the engine applying light pressure on the next gear down. It will fall into gear when the speeds match. If you miss it, rev the engine and try again. If you miss again, try the next gear down.” “This is amazing,” I said. “How do you know this?” “It’s the way trucks are driven every day. The only time most truckers use the clutch is when they’re starting from a dead stop or decelerating to a stop. In your case you don’t have a clutch so if you have to stop you’ll have to do it in neutral, shut the engine off, put it in first gear and then use the starter again. Don’t do this too many times or you’ll burn up the starter.” It was one of those revelatory moments when you realize that knowledge is all around waiting to be discovered. After work I got a ride to the parking lot where the car was, opened the door and pushed it backwards into position. I got in, put the shifter in first gear and turned the starter. I was off! Shifting gears worked just like John said it would and before long I was home. I called Bill and asked him how adventurous he was feeling. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “You want to drive a car with no clutch from Aurora, Illinois to East Troy, Wisconsin?” “And back,” I said. “Sounds good. When do we leave?” We carefully planned a route that would take us through the least congested areas and the next day we were on the road. I developed a system of avoiding complete stops by down shifting to first gear well in advance of red lights and crawling along at 5 mph until the light changed. This didn’t endear me to the other drivers along the way but the closer we got to Alpine Valley, the more understanding they seemed to be! When we got to the entrance for the main parking lot there was a sign saying “Lot Full” and a guard posted to prevent anyone else from going in. I downshifted to first gear and turned in anyway. I was going as slow as possible without stalling the engine as we passed the guard. While he was trying to tell us we couldn’t go in, Bill yelled something like “We don’t have a clutch,” which I’m sure explained everything to the poor guy. I don’t know what we expected him to say... Oh, yes sir we have reserved parking for cars without clutches. Just go behind the stage. There’s an empty spot next to the Dead’s limo. Look for the sign that says “Clutchless Cars”. It really didn’t matter what he said though because by this time he was just a figure in the rear-view mirror waving his arms. When we got to the parking lot we discovered that there wasn’t a parking space anywhere! We parked on the side of the entrance road and mixed in with the crowd before the gatekeeper could catch up to us. Just as I was about to say it looked like the 60's again we came upon something that I hadn’t seen before. It was seven or eight people standing in a circle kicking a little beanbag between them. Bill, who had kept up with things much better than me, explained that it was Hacky Sack and soon we were in the circle doing our best to keep up with the new generation of Dead Heads. The concert was great with the Dead doing some of their not-so-frequently played tunes like “Walking Blues” and “It’s All Over Now” but this was one time where getting there was as memorable as being there.

Yeah, back in the day at Alpine. God that was a good, kicked back and mellow scene. i think the next morning that someone was trying to clear the parking lot. Petty was coming to play that night and somebody said, Look out here come the Petty heads. God, the things you remember.

I got married that afternoon before the show. We then loaded up two vans full of the wedding party and headed to Alpine. Since the Band couldn't be at the wedding. The Wedding came to the band.

This was one of the best of '85.I guess the word got out about the Dead and about Alpine Valley. There were something like 20000 people in the parking lot on top of the 40000 or so people that saw the show. The the whole Shakedown scene was going full steam ahead. 20 yrs So Far... One of the best 1st sets that I saw. I love everything from the beginning. Everything Rocks! And the best Keep on Growing bar none. Love the 84-85 drumz too.

Rented a winnebago with a group of friends and soon to become friends from SIU Carbondale and for some reason we had a life-size cardboard Julio Iglesias who made the entire trip and continued on to Ohio without us. Camped in the parking lot for two days. Met Phil Lesh in a strange little book store in the downtown area. Very nice guy. Stopped in Chicago on the way back to go to a Jimmy Buffet concert. We bought tix in the parking lot and half through the show they were discovered to be duplicates when someone with the same seats showed up. The ushers said we had to decide who moved and who stayed so we volunteered to give them the seats which were near the stage and were taken to an even better spot. It rained heavily and there was soon an impromptu water slide in the lawn section with daredevils taking plunges on cardboard boxes. Very surreal experience and one of the most memorable times of my life.Tim

11th show, this is not my favorite show, but it and any time i went to Alpine, it was fun. , Only 2 shows this year. Off to Cincinnati.

on the lawn...like, how could you have so much and so little? My boss, back at home sez, "whot is your problem?" to me, and I hear this teen cry. woman, totally blitzed in the 2nd set decided to stare at the sun until she went blind. keep your character, enjoy living, share your fortune, OXOX Merple Reddin

i will never forget it ,the whole lay out there was perfect it seemed like thousands of acreas of cow fields just full of heads and the sets where great i think it was one of jerrys favorite places to play he seemed more relaxed there then any of the other 50 or so places id been to , if i had one wish it would be to turn the clocks back 25 years so i could do it all over again .travel tunes and trips what a ride , i wonder what happened to all the people i used to know . twig mike billy diane beth where are you guys ran into twig in rockaway n.j about 15 years ago miss you bro if anyone reads this e-mail me jasoncostine@yahoo.com

My friend and I drove from Erie, PA to Alpine in his truck. He said he would drive the whole way and it was a standard shift. I didnt know how to drive standands at that time but learned real quick and in Chicago with all the toll booths.... oh my god what a mess.... seems the trips to shows are always interesting if not comical. I now know how to drive any standard and grateful for it. Anyway, that was his first show. He fell down the hill with his pony tail dragging behind him. When he got back up to me he said "we are Leaving now".... what a silly guy, the parking lot was a mess and he had no idea where the truck was but I did. I said we are here we are staying in you are muddy or not.... hell i lost my shoes or rather got rid of them.... what a trip... no organization to parking it was wild... good show..

Brent & Jerry were amazingly tight together for this whole gig.Listen to the tapes!(Disks now) We had 4th row seats w/ 8 friends...my wife went to the bathroom & came back to share that the real party was on the lawn...@ break we headed to the lawn & it was a great choice. Dear Mr.Fantasy & Stella were smokin!

All 4 of us had a Great time driving there and enjoying all that was around us.

In the summer of '85 I was working as a plasterer (English style) somewhere in Winnetka and was thrilled to see that the Dead were coming to town. So, having had a break from work back home in the UK, I flew in from London on the 22 June and headed straight to the venue. I'd seen the Dead several times in England but had always wanted to see them in the US. What an amazing evening, loved every moment and cried like a baby when Brokedown Palace came as the encore. We hadn't made a note of where we had parked up and as we were out of our heads we wandered around for an hour or two before we found the car. We never managed to get home to Chicago that night so we slept in our battered Ford Ltd somewhere in Milwaukee. At around 4.00 am we were awoken by the cops and just as I thought we were going to be led off in chains they heard our accents... So what are you guys doing here? When we told them we were on our way home after the Dead gig, and that we'd come from the UK to do so, they just told us to sleep well and they'd make sure we weren't disturbed again. A night never to be forgotten.