My first show. I was going to Sonoma State and had planned on catching them with The Who the previous October, but I couldn't get a ride, and $12 per ticket seemed kind of steep. LOL!

I was more of a Yes fan at the time, and thought the 76 Dead tapes my dorm friends kept playing for me seemed kind of like a stoned version of CSN. But in March 77 I decided to give the band a try and grabbed a ticket for the opening night - March 18.

We got in through a side door, ran in and planted ourselves right up in front of the stage. I had a ticket on the Red Dragon express that night, and with my elbows on the stage right at Jerry's feet, I took a ride I'll never forget.

Major memories: being amazed at Jerry's ripping solos during a "slow country song" (Sugaree), the hypnotic funkiness of Estimated (I couldn't figure out why everybody kept screaming "estimated profit!" - I mean, who cared what the night's revenue was), the enormous crescendos of Terrapin, the swampy space of At A Siding, and bouncing up and down like a ping pong ball with 2,000 other freaks during Around & Around.

But what really sealed the deal, and got me on the bus for life, was Not Fade Away. They played a scorching, throbbing, psychedelic NFA that night the likes of which I have never heard before - or since. It is permanently burned in my soul.

Thank you . . . for a REAL good time!

Jackaroses