Grateful Dead

I was still living at home in North Miami Beach, close to the Seminole Village. I had been introduced to acid by my closest friend at the time who still had family in Livingston New Jersey who had a friend who's Dad worked at the Sandoz lab in Jersey. At least that was the story he told. He brought some Sandoz acid back from a visit and we tripped at Grenoylds Park. Very pure, mellow, beautiful and life changing. The Seminole show was the first time I did Owsley. Pure, beautiful and life changing.There was a lot of Orange Sunshine around the Miami area. Beautiful and life changing. Later on a lot of bad shit hit the streets, especially around 163rd St and Collins and a bunch of asshole ripoff artists and you had to be careful. I think I did some strichnine once, or at least that was the story. Not beautiful. There was still good stuff around..but you had to pick and choose and get it from a reliable source...Window pane, purple microdot, something called barrels and a lot of blotter that varied in purity. The strongest stuff I ever did was purchased by some really tripped out freaks at Coconut Grove Park. I think it turned out to be DMT though, because it came on so fast and so strong. Later in College in Tampa there was a lot of mescaline around and some good acid. We had a farm area we used to go to and after a rain we could pick certain mushrooms that grew out of the cow patties. They were the ones with a purple rim around the stem. We would collect a garbage bag full and make tea from them. It tasted like shit and made you puke, but afterwards you developed a nice buzz. Looking back, I'm lucky it didn't kill us. Later living in Venice California in the eighties there was some good paper blotter around with a cute blue dolphin printed on it. That's the last stuff I took. Can't trust too much these days. Anyway...Seminole Village... I remember Leary at the show and either him or someone with him was tossing a lot of joints into the crowd. The good old daze.

My friend Bill and his brother Joe were going to go see Johnny Winter and I went along. I had seen the Grateful Dead at the December Miami Pop Festival and I was eager to see them again. We stayed at another buddys house that lived close to the Seminole Reservation and were able to go all three days. These were great shows with a lot of energy. I think the entire crowd got turned on, Owsley's product was everywhere being handed out for free, and the vibes were very cool. My friends were amazed by Pig Pen's rambling vocals, Gerry's guitar was right on and the idea of two drummers blew everyone away. This was a very inspired time with an inspired band giving everyone the very best they had to offer. "When I die bury me deep, put two speakers at my feet, pair of ear phones on my head, and always play The Grateful Dead."