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    marye
    Joined:
    Here's the place for that story about how you ran into Jerry in the halls of Autodesk. Or some such. Thank you for sharing!

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  • #71
    Meeko
    Joined:
    Hunter, Micky, Phil
    Saw Robert Hunter with Comfort back in 1978 at My Father's Place...a great club in Roslyn, Long Island...anyway walked back stage between sets and patted him on the back, saying "thanks for all the great songs" Met Micky at a book signing for "At the Edge" told him we listened to "Music to be Born By" when we were expecting our first child. Met Phil at his book signing ain NYC 4/05. I told him about my 17 year old nephew Colin who was killed in a car accident, and my brother and his wife donated some of his organs, Phil took both my hands and thanked me. Later I chatted for a while with Jill, what a gracious lady. She said Bobby got Phil his first acoustic upright bass one Christmas.
  • #72
    thndrbill
    Joined:
    Football in Mexico
    I was camping on the beach at X-Cacel, an hour or two south of Cancun on the Carribbean coast of Mexico. It was paradise back then before all the hotels came. We went to Akumal, which had a dive shop and resturants, a couple of condos and most importantly a TV. The 49ers were in the playoffs (shows how long ago this was) and we wanted to watch! The bar was small and crowded and someone came up behind us and asked if he could share the table. Without turning around I said "Sure, so long as you're a niner fan. " He said "That I am" It was Bobby. He watched the whole game with us. I never let on that I knew who he was until we were all leaving. He was really nice and we all had a great time.
  • #73
    Sunshine-daydr…
    Joined:
    Meeting in a mountain village bar
    yesterday lunch time i went into the local bar for a drink Some friends of mine were in the bar with 2 of their clients ( they run guided walking holidays in the mountains around here). The clients were to ladies about my age. we were chatting and the conversation got to the Grateful Dead. I was wearing a GD tiedie. One of the women said she met them in 67 at a party in London. If rememeber correctly in the Rock Scully book, only he went to London the band didn't. They certainly didn't play. The Lady, Ann,said she went to the party with a friend who later became a Dead Roadie i replied Sam Cutler, Ann was astonised i knew him. After this Ann told more tales of Mr Cutler Strange Occurences in The Mountains The strangest thing was they had been here for week and we hadn't met, on their last day we met Bob W happy 60th Bobby W - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spanish Jam
  • #74
    Mythical Ethic…
    Joined:
    Bobo, Big Red, Rob and the lights lady
    At Telluride in '87, Bill Graham was everywhere --no surprise, as he had a home there and was both promoting the gigs and pretty much playing Head of the Travel and Tourism Bureau for the weekend --and also doing his very damnedest to keep the scene as clean as possible. On the day of the first show, I saw him strolling around, eyes behind dark glasses, schnozz in the air and inspecting the general scene for the even the slightest hint of disarray. With deference of the kind that a kindergartner displays toward the school principal, I gave him a "G'moring, Mister Graham" as I walked past him on the main drag, to which he silently replied with a smug nod. After the second show ended, he gave what was by then his familiar spiel thru the house mike from the stage ("...and r'membuh t'pick up yuh sh*t aftuh yoo..."), immediately after which he comes barrelling out onto the Town Park lawn with a big plastic trash bag in his hands (and a roll of several dozen others shoved into a pocket of his shorts), barking orders in every direction all the while. So I start stuffing soiled paper napkins, discarded drink cups and cigarette butts into his trash bag until satisfied that the area within a fair-sized radius of where I had been seated was neat, tidy and free of debris, and then I scrammed on outta there back to the adjacent camping area with a vague sense of fear that he'd be dropping by before dark for a rigorous tent and campground inspection. A week later, on the morning of the first show at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, I was walking thru the parking/camping area at the venue, looking for a ticket for the second show. I happened upon a couple of high school kids wearing official-looking teeshirts and ID laminates who seemed to be selling tickets, and I started digging for my wallet as I approached them. Out of nowhere, this noisy bundle of energy comes charging onto the scene, barking, "A'right, ah we sellin' tickets heah? Hah? Ah we sellin' tickets? A'right, [he roared,] who needs a ticket heah?" "One for tomorrow please, Mr. Graham --*tomorrow*." Elsewhere in the family, I got to say hi ("Hey, Headster") to Bill Walton about eight years ago at some small, very informal sportsy corporate/promotional type thing (Roger Craig from the 'Niners was there, too). Based on what I saw and what I've heard, I'd describe him as a red-headed, seven-foot ("Pleeeeeeease...six-*eleven*") version of Bobby who plays basketball not guitar. An erstwhile roommate of mine from a college town in Illinois moved to State College PA in mid-'80s and fronted a band that did GD covers (he's in Oregon now). He was at a GD show at Nassau, I think, somewhere around '89-'91, and from where he was seated, he could see this vaguely familiar-looking guy in an enclosed, restricted-access area near but not on the floor, like the penalty box or bench area used for hockey games. It occurred, either to him or to someone seated with him, that the guy in the restricted area was none other than Rob Wasserman, and my guy managed to make his way over to where Rob was, make his acquaintance and hang out with him in the restricted area for the remainder of the gig. They ended up becoming quite chummy for a while beyond that one show, and for all I know they still are. Lastly, I used to do apartment painting and light maintenance for a Bay Area native who's a property manager in the Illinois college town I mentioned earlier. In early September of '93, he went back to the Bay Area for Labor Day weekend, and upon his return, he calls me into his office and hands me this sheet of lined yellow letter pad with a personalized note scribbled in red felt-tip. So he tells me that as he was on the plane returning to Chicago, he got to talking to the woman who was in the adjacent seat, and in response to the old familiar "so what do you do" inquiry, she says she's the lighting director for a professional touring rock band and is in transit to Ohio for the start of fall tour. So back and forth they go, and it leads inevitably to, "Y'know, I got this fella on my work crew who absolutely loves those guys, and I haven't done anything like this since I was a kid at Candlestick Park with Willie Mays and Willie McCovey --but d'ya think I could get your autograph for him?" So she wrote me a nice little note (still have it), did Candace Brightman, the pride of Winnetka, Illinois ("Hi...I'm the Grateful Dead's lighting director..." --as if she needed to tell me!), and she told my boss to be sure to tell me not to come hitting her up for tickets to shows on the fall tour --LOL!
  • #75
    CT-CA-Head
    Joined:
    At a loss for words
    One of my friends had an extra ticket for the 6/29/90 "Creating Our Future w/Jerry and Bob" at the Palace of Fine Arts in SF and asked if I wanted to go. I drove there and luckily I got the last legal parking spot in the row. I stood outside and waited for her to show up with my ticket. As I waited a friggin BMW pulls up and parks illegally blocking me in. Well, I decided that I was going to let this guy know that I knew he was blocking me. I walked up to my car, opened the door and got an extra pack of smokes out. Out of the corner of my eye I see the guy getting out and shutting his door. I shut my door and am prepared to give him the "I know your blocking me in look" as I turned to face the guy who was walking up to me I realized it was Bobby. I was thrown. My jaw dropped as Bobby walked up to me and asked if it was okay that he parked there. I stuttered uh, uh, ya, it's cool (now feeling like the total a$$ I had just made of myself). I shook his hand and walked away. Inside the venue both Jerry and Bobby just hung out in the lobby talking with everyone. We stopped by and said hi to Jerry, my friend complimenting him on his new haircut which he thanked her for. We then went over to chat a little with Bobby; everything was copacetic. He signed an autograph for me and we shook hands again. After the show (neither of them ended playing that night-they let some of the kids borrow their quitars to play) I was ready to leave. Bobby still had me blocked in. I waited and waited. The problem was that there were too many people hanging around Bobby's car and I overheard that he did not want to come out until the crowd thinned. I sat on the hood of my car. Finally after a long wait Bobby emerged with a woman carrying his guitar for him. As she walked by me she turns and says, "Nice parking job" to me insinuating that I squeezed in behind Bobby. I smiled and thought about how things come around.
  • #76
    CT-CA-Head
    Joined:
    MOM!
    It was 9/25/88. My girlfriend and I had flown back east to visit family. My mother had offered to drive us to the airport to fly back to the Bay area. My mother as always had to get there WAY too early. I think it was about 6am when we were shuffling through JFK airport in NY on the way to our gate. Barely awake, my girlfriend says to me, "Hey, there is Jerry". Sure enough I look to my right and Jerry was sitting there relaxing. I kept walking. My mother screamed, "JERRY, JERRY"! I looked in horror at my girlfriend. My mother was going to make a scene. She started yelling at me, "Go get his autograph". I shook my head as I knew she was not going to let this go. My mother marched straight up to Jerry and said, "You don't have any idea what my son goes through to see you." Here I was thinking, yes mom, he does and as a matter of fact as much as I tried to see them as much as possible regrettably I had never quit my day job to go on tour. She then asked Jerry if he would sign an autograph for me. He smiled and said sure. I had my boarding pass in hand and handed it over to him. He asked my name and signed, "Marc, Hiya, Jerry Garcia". As he handed back to me he says that we would probably see other members of the band in the terminal but they had just done 9 shows at the Garden and they were all pretty tired if we could please leave the other members alone. I thanked him and then apologized profusely and walked off seeing Brent and Phil making sure my mom had no idea they were there. As it turns out we were on the same flight to SF. On the flight I remembered I had my camera with me. Jerry, being in 1st class had got off the plane before me. When we finally got off the plane we ran by my buddy who was picking us up and told him Jerry was on our flight and wanted to get a picture of him. We ran through the terminal. We then saw Jerry on a people mover and ran to the other end. I stood off to the side and snapped a quick picture as discreetly as I could just before he got off. He gave me a big smile and a nod. At the time I could not believe what my mom had done. I now cherish my note from Jerry and will post it along with the 1 picture here.
  • #77
    marye
    Joined:
    kim!
    was that Fred Lieberman's class? If so, I'm giggling at the "not a Deadhead" characterization; hell, he coauthored a book with Mickey! We need to get him in here, come to think of it...
  • #78
    kim
    Joined:
    Mickey at UC Santa Cruz
    I was a sophmore at UC Santa Cruz, I think it must have been 1989-90. My friend was taking a music appreciation class. The teacher was a very straight guy, not a deadhead in the least. On one of the first classes, he played touch of grey as an example of a perfectly composed song. I heard through the grapevine that the professor was friends with Jerry. There was a very vague rumor that Jerry was going to come to class at some point in time. UC Santa Cruz in the late 80's had alot of hardcaore deadhead kids, so this rumor made us all nuts! So I went to that class every single session, even though I was not enrolled in that class. I think it was probably the only class I went to consistently during college. Anyways after many many many weeks, Mickey showed up! It was awesome. I think he lectured to us, but I can't remember for sure. After the class, I went up to introduce myself. He was very gracious. I remember asking him if he could PLEASE play shakedown street at the next california show. Then spent alot of time anticipating if they would..... They didn't but it was awesome meeting Mickey. My sister , who is not a deadhead, claims she met Bobby in a casino in Nevada. She got me a signed cocktail napkin from him. Im not sure if that really happened or if she was just pulling my leg.
  • #79
    marye
    Joined:
    Okay Jim
    I think you win. Say more about Bob at the Grove--or would they have to kill you?
  • #80
    Jim Vaughn
    Joined:
    Bohemian Grove
    I met Bob Weir in the Bohemian Grove back in the 1990s. He played some fantastic music including "West L.A. Fadeaway" & "Misty". I may have been the first Dead Head to dance in the streets of the Grove! He was backed by the great band "Marley's Ghost". See them if you get the chance! "The experiment continues..."
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Submitted by marye on
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Here's the place for that story about how you ran into Jerry in the halls of Autodesk. Or some such. Thank you for sharing!
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Submitted by hnett on Mon, 11/15/2021 - 14:15

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I went to the first night of the Nov '78 Uptown Theater, Chicago run. It was because I had a car, and the guys wanting a ride were not in my high school, but heck yah! We had mezzanine seats. It was kind of hard to figure out what I had experienced. But, it was really fun, so the next day I had to work and didn't go, but a second friend was there working with me saying he so wanted to go. So, I went to the third night show. A third friend I knew from elementary school and I were scheming ways to make that happen anyways. My buddy scored 4 hits of some greendragon blotters at school. We ate them and headed into the city. By the time I got to the venue I was starting to really get off. We parked in the lot building thinking we were lucky. But, me being a youngster, I bought two more hits of Phoenix Rising blotters just in case. Got in line out on the busy city street sidewalk. Others were selling doses and got arrested right in front of us which was a total feakout. Then a homeless lady about 9 months pregnant was sitting on the curb with a sign that read "anyone want a baby" and an arrow pointing to her belly. Our suburban sensibilities were being tweaked. But, we got into the show because some disco dan and his debutant date that won free tickets on the radio didn't like the deadheads. My buddy got two hits of Mr Natural blotters in the bathroom just in case. We were not saying anything about the extra hits. But, we split them between us not knowing what Phoenix nor Mr Natural was? And we got to our 7th row center seats. 4 hits in my mouth was a bit much. We survived the first set. Man, that was huge! Then the 2nd set started. Scarlet Fire opener was how the bus doors opened. I really did have the telepathic experience with Jerry. He assured me everything was alright and Bobby singing Need A Miracle next confirmed it. Of course Jerry had to mess with me by singing He's Gone before they went into The Other One>Meltdown Jam. Yah, that was it. The Dead never got within 500 miles of me without me twisting and contorting my path towards them. I saw them somewhere in the triple digits worth of shows. Still seeing what's left of them (Dead & Co) at Ak Chin Pavillion PHX 2021 fall tour. It is still so much fun! Happy Trails Campers.

Hello. I am a 21 year old deadhead. I totally understand if you don't want to interview someone who never got the see The Grateful Dead. However, I have been very much involved in the Grateful Dead scene since 2017. I've seen Dead and Company, Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros, Dark Star Orchestra, and JRAD live in concert and have been researching the Dead to improve my knowledge on this wonderful band and music that I love so much. If you are looking to get input from a younger deadhead, I would love to be apart of your series of interviews.

I'd be glad to participate. I have an interesting story about my introduction to the Dead in 1976, and all that happened after that.

our regularly scheduled nonsense to bring you this important service announcement.
Remember to smile, relax, and be kind this extra insane holiday season!
Oh, yeah, and “wash your hands!” (That’s mom from the great beyond lol)

Garciasforest, check your PMs

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Submitted by MrEdyoulis on Sat, 12/18/2021 - 19:45

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My friend Janine slept and didn't get Greek tickets. She said matter of factly "I'll give Jerry a card asking for tickets and I'll get them" So the JGB was playing The Stone in SF. We go to the show, she has the card with a Joint inside.

We walk out, just as Jerry is coming to the limo. I step up, thank him for the show and hand him the card. He thanks us back and off he goes.

She never got tickets. I can't blame Jer. The joint was horrible.

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Submitted by twinarmageddons on Wed, 04/20/2022 - 08:10

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happy 4/20

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Submitted by PapaJ on Sun, 08/07/2022 - 21:24

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I saw Phil sitting on the F train in NYC, I guess I was coming home from work? It was pretty crowded, I was certainly star struck, and he got off before I could overcome my inertia and just say "thank you." This was maybe summer 2015? Not positive, but there he was, on his own, just another face in the crowd :)

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Submitted by curtispsf on Tue, 05/02/2023 - 11:26

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It was 1974/75 and I was living in upstate New York at Albany. I was running weed from Jamaica. I tracked down Jerry w/ Merle Saunders at the Capitol Theater and met him at the hotel. I went up to speak with him to ask if I could soundboard record them with a new DBX compression device I had. He said, "Get in the limousine and let's talk". I made arrangements to go home and pick up my equipment promising Jerry that I had some great Jamaican weed. At home, I rolled three big blunts and put them in my front shirt pocket. When I got backstage, I asked Jerry is he wanted to smoke some phenomenal weed. "Sure", he said. I reached for my shirt pocket only to realize that I had changed shirts and had NO weed. I was flabbergasted and apologized to Jerry. "No problem," he said. "we'll smoke mine". And we did and all was well.

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Submitted by rreich_69 on Thu, 08/31/2023 - 16:51

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Now would be a great time to compile a bunch of interviews from all the generations that have experienced the wonderful music and songwriting of the Grateful Dead. Honestly, when I went to my first show in 1987, I didn't know a single song, maybe Casey Jones or Truckin that might have gotten some airplay. But then I was hooked and now I can sing along with 90% of their songs and play/sing at least a dozen on my guitar.

Hell, John Mayer was a front man for the last 10 years or so and he wasn't born until 1977, and this is a quote from him on FB, "This music has made me a better player, and this band made me a better person. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime - to have access to the greatest songbook in modern music, and the deepest well of life memories shared by hundreds of thousands of Deadheads who extended their grace and acceptance to me?