Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

It did not surprise me that the JFK stadium, home of the Army - Navy game for decades, was finally being laid to rest. And, quite appropriately, it may have been more than a coincidence that The Grateful Dead performed the last show there. The stadium was dilapidated, and, not entirely safe. Fortunately, there were no incidents during the Dead's performance. Even though I would scribble down the name of each song, I would inevitably become engulfed in their jam. It was a great show. And even though they played for over two hours, I wanted to hear more of their jam. "Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it."

Love reading all these great comments about the memories of that very special moment in time. Even though I wasn't there it seems to me the only thing holding that mother of a building up was the sheer JOY! and POSITIVE SPIRIT! of all the enlightened DeadHeads in the building. Great musically too! Can't wait for the MeetUp!

It was early afternoon and I was on the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension heading South on my way to Long Beach Island to spend the next couple of days with my friend from high school who had moved to LBI for the summer. I was in my 1973 Red Camaro R/S going a little faster than traffic and lo an behold I pass my younger brother in his custom van who I had no idea was going to the show and traveling in the same direction but he was going to the grateful dead show. What are chances you see someone you know on the PA Turnpike, yet alone it being a family member? After seeing each other and laughing together. suddenly my car started overheating and steam was coming out from under the hood halfway through the only tunnel on that section of the road. All I remember thinking was that I lucky to have found him and also be near the end of the tunnel because I knew there was turnpike maintenance area where I could let the engine cool and probably get water. As I pulled over with my brother in the van behind me; we get out and assess the situation and luckily he had two of gallons of water, but that didn't fill the radiator. I was able to find a spigot near the wall of the tunnel, filled up the radiator and engine and we decided to follow each other, at least until to Philadelphia where I would break off and head east to New Jersey; we started on our way. To ease the work for my engine, my brother drove in front of me as a wind breaker; so my engine didn't need to work so hard, just in case. Then all of a sudden he's slowing down, 45mph, 35mph. 25mph .... he pulled over. His electrical system in the van stopped working, the engine had stalled and I pulled over along with him. The starter on his van wouldn't crank and we had another 'oh shit' moment. Being halfway to Philadelphia we knew getting a tow truck was hardly an option; but fortunately he had a long chain in the van so we chained the frame of his van to my Camaro's rear axle and the decision was to get him to the JFK stadium parking lot and then I would continue to LBI after we arrive. Getting on the Schuylkill Highway was hell and with every stop and pull you hear the chain snap with tension; nerves were shot but we got there; I think it was 4:00 - 4:30. With my brother in tow I managed to explain to the parking attendant that I was leaving as soon as we unhitched. Finally, parking decided to pop a beer and relax a little bit and some dude comes walking past selling black sticky opium and I'm like; hell yeah and twenty dollars later I was stoned like I've never been stoned in my life. My bother tells me that he had two extra tickets and I decided to buy one of the two tickets and then he gave the other ticket to someone who was without a ticket for free; a few days later we learned a new term, that's called a miracle ticket. In return for the miracle ticket the person he gave it to gave him a ten strip and because I helped him get there, my brother gave me five of them. Now at this point, I had no idea what I was holding, actually I was quite scared of the substance based what I've learned from war on drugs; I was already pushing it with the black opium. The decision to partake was frightening but I took the chance and popped another beer. Before I knew it the opening band was about to end and it was time to start heading into the concert where along the way a beautiful soul, some girl handed me a fresh rose along the way. I was coming up and spontaneous smiles were unavoidable. Finally making our way to the seating level; a sea of tie dyes, stadium waves and Beach-balls floating on top the crowd were breaching my awareness in levels beyond any familiar comprehension. The band came on opening up with a song I had never heard, Hell in a Bucket and then Iko Iko. Soon I was watching the pedals on the rose which I was holding fall off in sorrow; I actually became sad that I was causing them to break away and soon I found myself picking up the pedals of the rose and folding them in half and watching the cracks in the pedal come alive in amazement; the music kept on playing and people were dancing and twirling all around me; Iko Iko all day... I sat there laughing for no less than utter happiness, Little Red Rooster was the prowl. Soon the the sun was setting and twilight began, that's when the stage lights came alive and the visuals were incredibly friendly if not out of this world. Before I knew it the concert was ending and heading back out to the parking lot preparing to head east. My brother's van started up in a sigh of relief. I headed to the beach, met my friend around 5 am and spend the two nights tripping at the shore until morning light. I have never looked at things the same way ever since. <3