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...

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..........

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.

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.

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