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Just to get it on the record… Took the flying aluminum tube to Oakland to see my first DSO in California. The weekend was spectacular…great music, people, weather Two quite different shows but equally enjoyable in their own unique way. 7/31 tribute to Bobby with JGB opening (kinda weird since 8/1 is well 8/1 but I am sure scheduling conflicts in play) Melvin was ridiculously good… Many guests some of which I saw 2 weeks ago in Indianapolis seeing Barraco and Skeleton Crewe were a part of DSO sets. I still see in my mind 6 percussionists banging on Rob/Dino drum kits 8/1 Jerry birthday…suffice to say the DarkStar->El Paso->Eyes->Dew->Sugar Mag is why I’ve seen this band for 27 years. DSO still surprises me just how good they are. Of course saw many friends even though my first time dancing to DSO in the golden state. Not sure where next adventure will be but isn’t that the point.

Wow being at the Greek for this was an unforgettable experience and phenomenal way to experience that venue for the first time…lotsa parrellels to the 2018 Red Rocks for DSO’s first time. Being on the DSO train over the years is like being on a long extended hiking trip up in the mountains…something as full on as hiking the Pacific Crest trail, for example….…it’s an adventure packed with beauty and challenge and curiosity about what it’s like up around the next bend…only to find yet another outrageously beautiful, expansive view with indescribable and pristine perfection splayed out in front of you,,.possibly even more glorious than the mind blowing view you had just a couple miles back… There have been what seem like endless peaks, sublime mountain lakes, quiet gurgling streams, alpine meadows, marmots calling out from beneath the rocks, views into deep valleys, terrifyingly steep cliffs, thunder and lightning rainstorms to survive, exhaustion yet truly fulfilling exhilaration along with a bit of physical malnourishment at times within a journey that offers thick and drippy glimpses into timelessness…. There have been many memorable high peaks along the way,,,and the Greek was a pinnacle experience…a peak among peaks that will be hard to beat,,,but all the peaks have so much to offer in terms of expansive views and inspiring beauty. The Greek completely fucking kicked ass… How could the best band in the land not pour it on as thick as molasses and heat it up and pour it all over you…their first time getting to play such an iconic and gorgeous venue steeped with Grateful Dead history. I also feel like it always up’s the ante when DSO plays in the Bay Area since it was the birthplace and home base for this music,,and history matters when it comes to the GD experience… With the juju of the venue and jehovah’s favorite Choir ready to pop so many of our Greek cherries good and hard…our favorite band played the shit out of 7/13/84…quite frankly, they fucking slayed it from start to finish. The beast that lives deep within the caverns of this music was fully unleashed and raged hard and strong as they worked their way through the intensity and sweetness of it all…the entire lower bowl below the upper grass area seemed to be dead silent during Stella Blue…the crowd seemed completely on board for the full shamanic cleanse throughout second set. Felt many times that we were in some sort of forgotten ritualistic cathartic festival of great human release in an ancient temple of sorts……ahhhhhhhhhh…..that’s why we chase this shit so hard…SOOOO freaking GOOOOOOOD!!!!! Of course the filler on top of the long and lofty Dark Star polished out the experience into a crystal clear gem with Lisa pouring it on thick…. i had a buddy who was way up at the top of the venue while we took it in down in close and he said when they dropped into Ripple he had to stop moving and drop into silence because the sound of the whole bowl of people down below singing together along with the band was drifting up the hill and landing in his ears as indescribable beauty and strong GD emotion…wow…. I want this hike in the high country to go on and on and on….so much satisfying beauty behind and so much yet to be discovered out ahead…. Thank you DSO…your capacity to transform the human spirit through your musical skill cannot be described with words!!!! Let it be known there is a fountain That was not made by the hands of man… ⚡️🌹⚡️

Why is Black Peter special to me.... Listening to BP from Europe (I think) last night I commented to a friend how this is probably the best blues song ever... This song has a way of putting all that life and death is into its proper perspective. I had spent a couple /few years listening to BP multiple times a day because the lyrics and bluesey groove was my life... "all my friends came to see me last night, I was layin in my bed and dying" 48 staples closing me up and coming back to life while a priest is giving me last rights and the friends that came to see me. "Just want to have a little peace to die and a friend or 2 at hand" my mantra for two to three years of nothing but the horror of what I had become... Wanting to die but " one more day I find myself alive tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground" This was a comforting thought... See here how everything lead up to this day and it's just like any other day that's ever been. The pain of knowing the life your living will be the life you die from and having no hope it could ever be different... The people may know but the people don't care that a man can be as poor as me. Take a look at poor Peter he's lying in pain... poor in spirit and extreme physical pain but the physical was minor in comparison to the spiritual pain. Black Peter brings me back to a life I was dying by and forward to the grateful life I live today... See here how everything lead up to this day and it's just like any other day that's ever been... 😀❤️😀

1969-02-07 Stanley Theater , Pittsburgh Pa filler: Easy Wind Hard to Handle Strange Man Love The One You’re With I am no longer sad about missing out 🕺🏻🙏🏼💃🏼

69/01/25 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA Dark Star>St Stephen>William Tell bridge> The Eleven>Lovelight. Dupree's Diamond Blues, Doin' That Rag, Cosmic Charlie, Alligator>Drums>Alligator> Caution>Feed Back>Bid You Goodnight, Filler: Easy Wind, Sing Me Back Home, Next Time You See Me, Take a Letter, Maria, Sittin' on Top of the World, You Ain't Women Enough, Mr. Charlie, Ripple. From the first bars of Dark Star, to the final notes of the Ripple, this show oozed special. The first stretched out in all the right places, the Star particularly devastating in its development. Lovelight a full Pig version. Doin' that Rag a mindblower, Cosmic Charlie slowed a beat. Caution epic. Killer Filler. Reaching deep into the catalog for a couple of gems, and they absolutely slay Easy Wind. What a close to a five show run, infinite magic. Thanks Band and Crew. Praise DSO.

Completely GAME ON show…such a different experience than Del Mar which was super fun, played so well and arguably had better sound in the brand spanking new venue but…. complete roof blowout during Deal after a super solid first set and just total second set beauty perfection…whatever words you use for speechless situations… LA crowd was full throttle and giving it loud and clear back to the band right out of the gate and all the way through and the symbiotic organism fed on itself thoroughly throughout the night…band was so ready to go out on limbs and lay it all down…never recall seeing Jeff quite so animated and playful and literally getting down while slaying the shit out of so many jams… it was just one of those nights…. the Wiltern is such an old beauty (had seen them there 4yrs? Ago) and it makes me wonder how the influence of such a beautiful space that clearly has soul and so much history influences the music… terraced floor so no slope dancing, like the warfield and other small halls I’ve seen that have Eliminated the slope floor for flat terraces….boulder theater comes to mind too… didn’t talk to tons of people but was surprised how many peeps we came across who were DSO virgins in last couple nights. Definitely DandC splillover in there… getting their minds blown I’d say! wow thanks for this full throttle dialed in Saturday night in LA Smokin’ Hot🔥 ⚡️🌹⚡️

Last evening Basement Dance Party 2 surprisingly exceeded expectations, burning many calories in the process. A full serving of treats set the mindstage for the genius of the Big Man, he delivered in spades. The show had a nice long set break to refresh, and the energy in the room propelled the party to add on two unscheduled sets of acoustic Jerry. Hoe Down grande. Set One 83/10/21 Centrum Music, Loser, CC Rider, Cumberland Blues, Cassidy, Ramble on Rose, Brother Esau, BIG RR, Promised Land. Set Two 81/05/16 Cornell Shakedown>Bertha, Lost Sailor>Saint>D> Set Two 85/06/24 RiverBend S>Comes a Time>Other One>Cryptical>Wharf Rat> Round and Round, Good Lovin'. E: US Blues. After Show Acoustic Set One 87/10/31 Lunt Fontanne Theatre (Evening) Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Deep Elem, Blue Yodel #9, Ballad of Casey Jones, Two Soldiers, Diamond Joe, Gone Home, Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie, If I Lose, Ragged But Right. After Show Acoustic Set Two 87/10/31 Lunt Fontanne Theatre (Matinee) I've Been All Around This World, I'm Troubled, Short Life of Trouble, Blue Yodel #9, Spike Driver News, Troubled In Mind, The Girl at the Crossroads Bar, Bright Morning Stars, Ripple, Good Night Irene. Praise DSO.

20/08/01 In DeadNation The Still, Timonium, MD Touch of Grey, Ramble On Rose, Rooster, Althea, Train To Cry, MAMU, Big River, Bird Song, Brown Eyed Women, So Many Roads. China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, Crazy Fingers, Box of Rain>Other One> Jam>Morning Dew. Fantastic to get some live Dead music for the Big Man's Birthday. Band really hit their stride from the Althea on in the first, the Bird Song a spinning dreamscape , and a credible job done on the SMR. China>Rider mashed and things were rolling along nicely until I felt a few raindrops at the end of the Other One. A bumpy landing ensued, with a ragged Dew ending the night as the rain drops picked up. Damn 2020. Great to see familiar faces, feel family, dance. I believe Jerry would be proud. Praise DSO.

This weekend (Oct 18 &19) two days of a small GD festival in a Nashville park "Touch of Brews Festival". (Terrapin Beer sponsored) John K will do a solo "acousti'Lectric" show and then set in with other bands both days. My family is even going along to Nashville which is unusual.

Wow! Wow! WOW! This was THE NIGHT! Set 1 was complete 11/21/69 Cal Expo, Building A - Sacramento, CA (Set 1:) Casey Jones Good Morning Little School Girl Cold Rain And Snow Cumberland Blues Easy Wind (Set 2:) Good Lovin' Drums Good Lovin' China Cat Sunflower I Know You Rider High Time Me And My Uncle Turn On Your Love Light Set 2 elective Cryptical/the other one/cryptical St.Stephen William Tell The Eleven Death Don't have no Mercy Alligator Encore: Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane) 1st time played in front of people I don't have to say anything else, this was insanely amazing and unbelievable dance fest. Thank you DSO!!! And crew!!! Love you all!

69/02/07 Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA Dark Star>St. Stephen>William Tell Bridge> The Eleven>Lovelight. Cryptical>Other One>Cryptical>Death Don't Have No Mercy>Alligator>China Cat Jam> Caution>Feed Back>Bid You Goodnight. Filler: Easy Wind, Strange Man, Hard to Handle, Love the One Your With, Tore Up. This one was not to be believed. First standard early 69 fare, the Star stretched a little more than Napa, Eleven elevating, Rob strong on the Lovelight. Second the real face melter from first notes of Cryptical, Death Don't popped the lid on the insane closing sequence, Caution went deep. I absolutely lost my mind during the Easy Wind, the filler much like Napa killed. Spent the evening with many loved friends. Thanks Band and Crew. Praise DSO.

Holy Guacamole 🥑 Batman! Looks like they threw the kitchen sink at ya'll - and then the whole kitchen, just for good measure 😮 Reads like a dream to me - I'll bet it was a lucid dream for all that got to plug into THAT vibe. One of the best vibes there is musically which I've nicknamed: Endorphin Firehose. Who wants a sip? What I'm most happy about, is BillK522 finally getting the royal treatment with this offering. The veritable 1969 white whale was finally realized - and then that monster just swallowed Captain Bill, whole All I know is that the opening refrain of Dark Star must have made everyone giddy with anticipation 🤪 With a Dark Star opener, you know you're embarking on a 3-hr journey. I might have just jumped out of my skin. Thanks to DSO + Crew for deciding to make this one happen for some very deserving friends- infinite magic indeed ❤

A weekend steeped in primo ‘78 DSO in a 100 yr old theater in SF with so much history and soul… The roof was blown out on Saturday night in the best of ways possible… once again the musical journey offered confirms to the cleareat of perspectives that they are TRULY A BAND BEYOND DESCRIPTION WOW ,,,thank you for a REAL good time 🙏🏼

Waiting for a miracle was a song that I really connected with following my moms diagnosis with brain cancer. So I understand NE. Even though no real miracle has come she's still with us and has beaten the odds which is a miracle. We visit my mom in less than 2 weeks will be good to be with her again despite her weakened state.

I FINALLY got a taste of some live GD-esque music this weekend. It felt really, really, really, really, really, really, really bleeping excellent to be back in the saddle - even if the musicianship was a far cry from DSO's collective chops. It was also really, really, really, really, really, really great to meet some new friends and dance the night away! Like a breath of the freshest air there is... I know I should be grateful to be alive with a healthy immediate family and a job BUT this last year has been so very tough on me - on all of us I'm sure. Innocence lost, love lost, family lost, lost family, respite lost. It all makes me so sad that it's hard to get up in the morning to face the day. Sorrow used to be an occasional visitor in my life but now it's moved into our spare bedroom and often takes over for days and days at a time. Grief is a very strange animal - I wish it would just go. People tell me I need to let it run it's course but it often feels like touching a hot stove. When it's not burning me, it feels like being alone in a boat that's sinking during a rainstorm - in the middle of the ocean. I guess I have to hurt in order to heal, right? Sorry for the therapy blog - if I keep it in, it literally eats me alive from the inside out. LIVE music won't be the sole reason that I make it through the maze I'm in but I'm certain it will help me reach a more comfortable place/perspective. It was really nice to smile again and to leave my trials and tribulations alone - even for just a couple hours. I'm looking forward to the peace that this music can bring me and sharing that joy with some amazing people.

Herdy, Bix, Vegas, and I will be in Maryland all 3 nights. Gold section. We have a huge house rented, that's where the after party will be. Hopefully Scotty and the Daylights are flying in, so we can have live music. Steph is doing well, just got herself a Mercedes Benz. Her and Jesse are living the life they love. Hope I don't miss you this time Sunny. Peace brother.

So laying in bed at 4am I just started cracking up thinking about tonight. Hope you guys dont mind me sharing but I can’t stop laughing. So I suggest to tea and Gr8tfulpair that we should do a zoom call sometime. Tea said let’s do it now. This was like 1am eastern or close. I install the app and start a call and link the invite. A few minutes later Gr8tfulpair joins. We are like where the frick is tea. We chat for a while as I was informed early that his phone was at 1% and the only charger was one that our long lost friend sunny had left and it drains battery vs actually charging it which makes sense and also makes me continue to laugh. Well eventually I get a locked pic of Gr8tfulpair which means battery dead then get a video in our chat group of Tea’s front door cam showing he’s locked out of his house and that’s why he didn’t join the zoom. Still laughing. I miss my tour crew. I miss so many of you. Tour is another home. I miss it .

Good morning Tea, You a person I have never meant just made my day with your comments. I have been off the board for some time dealing with "mid life" sadness and sure as shit I get on today and I see your comments. This proves "strangers can help strangers" in the craziest ways. Thank you brother for helping me see the light and to understand we are not alone in this world and its ok to ask for help. I promise you Tea I will pass this on to another person in need. The sun is shinning in my back & front door today!!! YIP!!!!!!

AZ proud to fire it up once again. New venue (praise Baby Jesus for the Van Buren, the Marquee was super aggressive with hipsters and heads ffs). Hoping for China/Rider, don’t care what era (beggars and choosers and all that). LFG!!

Thank you God for this past year, Thank you God for family here Thank you God for this delicious food, Thank you God for all that's good Awesome night, no better way to kick off the holidays. Sold out show once again at the Peak! DSO never disappoints. They threw me off with a 1st set drums, never heard that before. Thought maybe it was an elective set. The band is just a juggernaut when they get warmed up. The whole second set was fire once again. Props to my upstairs dancers. Another awesome night on the mountain. Hopefully everyone made it home safely and had a great Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends.

When DSO put this on the tour schedule i was excited. I saw Billy and the kids last summer at the Pier and it was great. The view is insane and if you get a day like Sunday there’s nothing like it. but other than that, unfortunately there hasn’t been any reason to go there for any music. DSO hasn’t been to the city in years, maybe since coney island 6 years ago. Definitely haven’t been to Manhattan in 8 or 9 years. It’s falling apart again in this city but it’s nice to have a show in your backyard. So the day was perfect, sun shining, a cool breeze and Alotta smiles. I love how the guys in the band talk about playing at home. I heard some reminiscing of club wetlands !!! Minglewood and Row Jimmy first set love. Sugaree.. thank you dso for everything as always, it means the world to all of us

2-3-79 Indianapolis Promised land Candy man Mama tried Brown eyed Looks like rain China cat > rider Minglewood Stagger Lee Heart of me Music never stopped Scarlet > Fire Estimated > Eyes Drums Other one Wharfrat I need a miracle Casey jones One more sat nite F: stir it up wowzers,… that one didn’t leave much in the tank. That 2nd set, near apocalyptic. Another really beautiful old theater.

Tried and true material. Personally business picked up at the China Rider. Pre drums delivered with world class precision. Miracle>Casey Jones probably did not happen often. Fantastic group in the hall getting down all evening. Spent the show with many loved friends. Praise DSO.

Finally checked from my bucket list seeing a show at the Warfield. It did not disappoint, due in large part to the scorcher we got from the band. I’m an early era guy so not my favorite collection of songs but nobody puts lipstick on a pig better than dso. They’ve given me new appreciation for many songs I’d usually skip over. Loser was gut wrenching, cc rider just ripped, and shakedown bout brought that gorgeous ceiling down. Second set up to drums was non stop fun. Skip was playing Phil’s Mission Control bass and let me tell ya, the bombs were flying. Cherry on top being the Visions and going down the road. Dance party was bit scattered due to the seats, but we managed to carve out the space we needed. ps: 1 draft beer = $20…. However the security staff couldn’t have been kinder. The one behind us was trying to help somebody find a lighter for their joint. Thanks to some great folks that showed us how Warfield shows are done, the experience was exceptional. Thanks as always to the band and crew!

Original Recipe Alabama Getaway, Hey Pocky Way, Big RR Blues, Passenger, Peggy-o, Cassidy, Brown-Eyed Women, Broken Arrow, Let It Rock, Pieces of My Heart. Foolish Heart, Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance> Crazy Fingers>Drums>Space>Tomorrow Never Knows>Love the One You're With> Saint Stephen>Morning Dew>Viola Lee Blues. E: Baby Blue Welcome to the Left Coast. Small theatre, Slanted floors. No balcony. How am I gonna make this work? Answer: Incredibly well. Well thought out elective delivered to a weekday audience. Big RR third a means business early indicator, although this one crept up on you. Let It Rock hammered. Foolish a bit bumpy, the delivery of the Crazy Fingers more than made up for it. Flawless covers led to the Stephen that popped the cork on a mind blowing final sequence. The closing crescendo of Viola outer limits. Spent with evening with many loved friends. Thanks Band and Crew. Praise DSO.

Eaton just had successful spinal surgery. Here’s to a speedy recovery for Rob! I hope he’s feeling like his old self soon - {{{Healing Vibes}}}

Was in NYC over the weekend and saw Miles Davis bassist Marcus Miller play the last show of his residency at the Blue Note Jazz club. He had old Miles Davis band mate Mike Stern sit in on guitar. It was incredible!

22/05/06 InDeadNation The Recher, Towson, MD Truckin', Sugaree, Ramble On Rose, Loser, Stagger Lee, Memphis Blues, Tennessee Jed, Mexicali Blues, Loose Lucy. West LA Fadeaway, Jack Straw, Foolish Heart, Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain, Box of Rain, Ripple, Casey Jones, We Bid You Goodnight. A Friday rainy slough through rush hour traffic well worth the sacrifice for a couple sets from my favorite local Dead band. I had the dance floor to myself for long stretches and took full advantage. Jack Straw, Scarlet>Fire personal highlights. Venue's a bar that transforms to college bar at 10:00 when we finish up, interesting transition. I had three lovely coeds with me for the Casey Jones. Ah to be young. I tacked on the second set from 87/03/26 in the basement when I got home to cap the evening. See everyone in Strousburg. Happy Mother's Day. Praise DSO.

45 years ago today I hopped on the bus to never ever land. 5/4/77 Palladium NYC

Watching the Hyryder Indy stream right now and the trap is packed. I’m getting a flu shot before New Years indy. Those dirty hippies get me sick every winter. Not sure how I’d chase the rug rat from 8-5 every day if I got sick. He’s currently fascinated with the green power button on the amp and it gets turned off 20x a day. Don’t get me started on how he does 3 mouse clicks and it says are you sure you want to delete everything on this computer. I turn my back and my phone is locked for 60 secs. He chewed up a cigarette from a pack that got in his reach and he was grossed out and spit it out and 20 minutes later he’s trying to grab another. Then there’s leaves that get tracked in. No those aren’t snacks. How many are you chewing on? Oh Atlanta. I got to get back to you.

85/11/16 Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA Hell In A Bucket>Sugaree>El Paso, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Little Red Rooster, West LA Fadeaway, Let It Grow. Tennessee Jed, Cumberland Blues, I Need A Miracle>Crazy Fingers>D>S>Comes A Time> Gimme Some Lovin'>Truckin'> Black Peter>Good Lovin'. E: Day Job. Another fine example of the wacky good lists being produced in 1985. Only TennJed in the second set from the 80's on, and an opener to boot. The second set especially tasty, check that pre drums. I have found the second set Cumby to be quite righteous, and approve of the post space Truckin'. It was 35 years ago today. Praise DSO.

https://archive.org/details/gd1983-09-11.125609.mtx.dusborne.flac16 I've been waiting to post this show. It's one of my all time favorites. I listened to the tape of this show while at summer school at Arizona State University, especially the first set then. Apparently during the second set, because of a light rain, a rainbow appeared during Morning Dew. As I've posted before, the wang dang doodle is one of my favorite segues ever. My first shows were red Rocks right before this musical adventure. That last night at RR, as everyone was walking the lot to their cars, there was a soft chant going on "ssssaaannnta fe, ssssaannnta fe", over and over. I didn't know what was going on back then, but looking back now I realize it was tour heads going down there for the final show of this run and magic was being conjured up Gotta love those midset Hell in a Buckets, esp 83 buckets, this show is gold at every turn, they must've had nothing but love in Santa fe

Park West 8/20/87. First in line at 4am, by 6am there was a crowd of maybe 100 people lined up, got the rail, big boss man opener, china Ryder second set, stella, most peaceful place to be. Waist high stage we could drape our arms on , nothing but the band 5 feet away. End of rocky mountain tour for me , 12 hr drive up from Tempe two nights earlier. Then the long desert drive home through Utah and western Wyoming getting to Laramie. Gas was cheap, nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile and dream of the next show which was eel river in Humboldt with JGB acoustic and electric, 3 sets for $15.00. When's that time machine coming?

Happy Friday Darkstar forum, Going to see Melvin W/ JK this Sunday at the Atomic Cowboy in St.Louis. Going to be a outside show. Can's wait and the second best part is we are off work on Monday!!! Yahoo!! Will give up date on show. Have a great and safe Labor day weekend everybody...

New set up old names. Amongst the confusion of upgrade it was nice to see familiarity. Nice to read of the reunion of dates. The remeberence of the first circus ride. A throw of the unexpected, the first time. Not as good as it could be, but the best it would ever be. First are always something to reflect on. Age catches up, memerories fade, but the ones we keep, we cherish. I cherish mine. I cherish many....no regrets of a weekend missed, as the bus always idles for those waiting to hop back on. Pauses for the right reasons makes it sweeter when we go back to where we belong. Nice to read the post. No more cavey but change is the only constant. Hope all.yall are doing well. It's a strange place to be knowing where your started. A big thanks to many here. Walked me through hell, forgave my stumbles, and encouraged so many times with keep.on growing at the balck.mountain. my song to rest. And rest we need at times. Regroup, reevaluate, and fight for the beauty of the love we bring. The comfort of knowing it's always here. It moves on with out you, but allows you to come.back on. A continuum....ever last lasting, or at least built to. Carolina contingent. I second thought myself, but ...little league Saturday is more precious. Happy to come back and share my silly words, but more happy to come back and read yours. Stability....and to think we find it in the same but different. Every show, every night. Will make a jubilee a priority. Be nice to dance with you fine people again. To flail. Makes calves tighten just thinking about it. You know my love is not fade away. Happy spring, rebirth, enjoy your back yard carolina!! Sorry. Wants no longer out weigh needs, but eventually need to take a load off. Go hang out with carmin....and go spend some time loosing my twenties ...closer to 50. As always, it makes sense to me....to others, to some, it's in and out, as the garden grows and the sunshine knows, the laughing water, maybe more will eventually get me out the door. Get out of the way, splintered light will indeed come back one day!! Love yall!! How I became other love I dont know, it used to be going back where...... prior sun1869, I guess time does change all. Name change is common for me.

First GD show was 31 years ago tonight. Seems like yesterday and 2 lifetimes ago all at the same time. https://archive.org/details/gd1988-04-11.sbd.miller.91243.sbeok.flac16 It wasn’t until Rosemont that the switch really got flipped but this nite was the 1st nite of the rest of my life ❤️

So, one week after my first Grateful Dead concert, I go back to college for my second year. My shroom mate has a friend who went to college in San Fran just so he could go to Dead shows. He calls my roommate to say Bill Graham bought the Warfield theatre so that the Dead could play there for two weeks straight. They’re playing acoustic sets, plus two electric sets to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. With a few more phone calls over that time, we learn that every acoustic set is being closed with Ripple, and that they’re making a double acoustic and a double electric album from those shows. They asked everyone to not do too much hootin’ and hollerin’, as the shows were being recorded for the albums. We also learned that they were doing similar shows at Radio City. That got us cutting class and riding up to Radio City the Monday before Halloween. We ride into New York with his Buddy and try to scalp tickets. We get robbed by ‘scalpers’, and now we’re penniless outside of Radio City while our ride is inside the show. Pretty disappointed for about an hour when someone walks up to us wearing a ski mask and asks, ‘who wants to get snuck in?’ We tell him our hard luck story, and he says, ‘ stand right here, let me find three more people’. We end up walking right through the front doors of Radio City without a ticket. This guys neighbor was a ticket taker at the door. Once inside, we got free doses, red dragons two weeks old from Berkeley. Absolutely amazing night. Acoustic set was precious. Five and a half hour show. Life changing. That’s all, thanks for letting me share.

Today is the 30th anniversary of my first Grateful Dead show. http://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1988/4/11 I really didn’t quite understand the hype - it was like an inside joke that thousands were in on. I skipped school and went (was taken) on to Chicago. It was like nothing I’d even imagined - my DNA got changed and that was it. Like it was written in my soul.......❤️

How about DSO history 2001-09-08 Show# 546 Tipitina's Uptown New Orleans, LA Click Here for Setlist GD 01/11/1979 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY This was my tenth DSO show. By then I had met and hung out with the crew after shows and met nearly all of the band, except Rob Koritz and Lisa. That night I met Rob between sets and we had a chance to actually talk. Then he took me Backstage and introduced me to Lisa. "Mean" Willie Green sat in with the Band that night on Drums and Percussion. I also met him (Didn't know who he was at the time.

Rob K here. Very sad news, for sure. Bill was one of a kind and a beacon for the rest of us to search for. Here is an "interview" I did with him during one my pandemic Q&As https://www.facebook.com/robert.koritz/videos/10158207653300170

https://relix.com/articles/detail/dark-star-orchestra-deadhead-adventure-travel/ On Nov. 11, 2022, Dark Star Orchestra performed at Chicago’s Vic Theatre to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut concert. The Grateful Dead tribute act returned to the city where they initially appeared at Martyrs on 11/11/97, with their signature approach, which involves interpreting specific setlists from the Dead’s history. While this was a momentous occasion, perhaps a more significant one took place over eight years earlier, on April 12, 2014, when DSO played their 2,318th show, equaling the total number of Grateful Dead performances. As of Dec. 31, 2023, Dark Star Orchestra has played 3,217 gigs, including multiple appearances at their own Jam in the Sand and Dark Star Jubilee festivals. This an extraordinary achievement that speaks to the enduring music of the Grateful Dead as well as DSO’s ability to interpret it. The group’s current roster includes guitarists Rob Eaton and Jeff Mattson, drummers Dino English and Rob Koritz, keyboardist Rob Barraco, bassist Skip Vangelas and vocalist Lisa Mackey. English, Eaton and Mattson, who joined DSO in 1999, 2001, and 2010, respectively, are all Deadheads who had previously performed the music of the Grateful Dead with other groups. Here, they share their perspectives not only on the Dark Star Orchestra, but also on the legacy of the good ol’ Grateful Dead. We’ve reached a point where I believe there are more Grateful Dead fans who never saw Jerry Garcia than those who did. What do you think accounts for this surging popularity and how do you view your role in it all? DINO ENGLISH: For a lot of kids, we’re their first experience with Grateful Dead music. It’s all about keeping the music alive and whatever part I can play in that feels good to me. I’m just doing my part in trying to keep the whole thing going and I feel privileged to be able to do so. By no means do I think that I’m essential, but I think I should be doing this. The music is still extremely relevant, and it will continue to be strong for a very long time. We all love it and we want to contribute to it. It’s like a living entity. You want see it prosper, continue on and do well. ROB EATON: I think the catalog speaks for itself. In my mind, the music has always been timeless. When you can hear the lyrics, they’re not telling you, “Oh, this is 1985 angst.” It doesn’t feel like a song is associated with the politics of a specific time period. It’s not yelling at you. It’s accessible to people. It’ll be accessible to people in 100 years, just as it was to us 50 years ago. I think it’s a testament to Robert Hunter’s lyrics and [John] Barlow’s lyrics and how they saw the place of music in society. It’s a big catalog. One of the things that I like about Dark Star is we have the whole catalog at our disposal at any particular time, which is something the Grateful Dead never really had. They picked up songs, dropped songs, picked up songs, dropped songs and so on and so forth. The music makes me feel good. The melodies are so rich and deep, and the lyrics are so deep, as well. We’re just Deadheads. We don’t really know any better. We’re just out there playing music how we like to hear it. Our spin on it is all the improvisation. You can play “Sugar Magnolia” seven nights in a row and it’s going to be different every time you play it. So that’s what keeps it interesting for people like me, after so many shows and so many years. You never really know where it’s going to go or what’s going to happen. It’s still an adventure. JEFF MATTSON: I never thought that this many years after Jerry’s passing, people would still be so hungry to hear Grateful Dead music. It’s a powerful force in the world. It also amazes me how many young people there are, particularly up on the rail. But it’s a wonderful thing and a testament to how great the Dead were and how great the songs are. Robert Hunter’s lyrics are nonspecific in a way that these songs continue to evolve my understanding of them—what they mean and how they relate to my own life. Those are kind of the best songs, in the sense that they will change with you. Words you’ve been singing for many years will take on new significance. I think that the best lyrics continue to reveal themselves. Now you have bands doing a bluegrass twist on Grateful Dead or a Latin twist or a jazz twist. I guess DSO’s niche is that we will give it to you the way that it was at the time. As you’ve noted, the songs themselves are a major part of the equation. That’s now part of the prevailing wisdom, but back when you were seeing the Grateful Dead, that aspect was often overlooked, especially when local newspapers would review the parking lot rather the show. JM: I think that a lot of music critics didn’t know what to make of the music. It was so different than everything else they were reviewing. So maybe they were being kind in a way. Rather than commenting on something they didn’t grok, they just talked about the social phenomenon. I cut the review out from my first show [9/8/73]. I think it was from Newsday. I’ll never forget that the reviewer said, “And they encored with a lovely song about a woman named Stella Green.” [Laughs.] They were selling out arenas for all those years, but they were kind of doing it under the radar. It had nothing to do with the popular culture at the time, I guess until ‘87 with “Touch of Grey” and then, all of a sudden, MTV discovered the Grateful Dead, this new phenomenon. But before that, we were just going to the shows, creating the tapes and nobody paid any attention—other than an occasional article about the crazy Deadheads traveling around the country or something like that. Dino, how did you come to join DSO? DE: In the ‘90s, I was performing original music in St. Louis with bands on the weekends and then, during the weekdays, I started playing in one of the bands that was covering Grateful Dead to make some extra money and have a good time. In 1995, after we lost Jerry, it kind of hit me, though—“I need to do whatever I can to keep this music alive.” So we started taking it much more seriously, touring regionally and doing weekend runs. I was playing with Rob Koritz, doing the double drum thing—my first exposure to that was Genesis— and I was having a good time playing with him. Eventually ‘97 rolls around and I started hearing all this buzz about this band Dark Star Orchestra. Then one time, we were playing in Chicago and Dark Star Orchestra was playing earlier, so we ran over there and checked the show out. I was able to catch some of the first set and I thought, “Oh, these guys are all right.” They were in a much bigger venue than we were, with 1,000 people in there, and after I saw them that first time, I decided I was going to drop out of the whole thing because they had the ball. I felt like they’d taken care of the thing, and I could go back to original music. So that’s what I did. Then one day, our band needed a website, and Dark Star had a really advanced website for the time. So as I was showing it to the other singer, all of a sudden there was a pop-up window saying that Dark Star Orchestra was looking for a drummer. I mulled it over for a few days because I had already switched gears, but I decided to send an email. It went to Scott Larned [the band’s co-founder, who died of heart attack in 2005]. He contacted me, and when they were in Columbia, Mo., I met them there and gave him a tape of my playing. From there, they had me come out to play a show and then they asked me to join. It turned out they were also looking for another drummer, so I mentioned Rob Koritz. Rob, how did you connect with Dark Star? RE: We were doing a Dick’s Picks release party at Wetlands over the course of a weekend. The Zen Tricksters [Jeff Mattson and Rob Barraco’s band] played one day and Border Legion [Rob’s band] played the next. David Gans was the host and Dick was there being Dick. Later on, Scott Larned asked Gans if he knew of a guitar player and Gans mentioned me because he had seen me at Wetlands. So I got a call from Dark Star because of David. It’s all David’s fault. [Laughs.] I went out to do five shows with them in Chicago. This was December of ‘99, but I didn’t do it full-time right away. I would go into the studio and work for two months. [Eaton maintained an active career as a studio engineer with three Grammys and multiple platinum records to his name.] Then I’d go on tour with Dark Star, before I’d go back into the studio and do another record. I did that for about a year before I joined full-time in early 2001. When Jeff later joined in 2010 [after John Kadlecik departed to perform with Furthur], that expanded the range of DSO and you began dipping into 1969 material. RE: One of things that Jeff could do very well was the old stuff. He had to learn a lot of the later Garcia and Weir stuff, but the old stuff he knew off the top of his head. So we had to learn some of the old stuff to keep up with Jeff and Jeff had to learn some of the new stuff to keep up with us. It expanded the repertoire in a good way. Jeff’s approach to it is very free, and especially talking about the old stuff, his way of approaching music is kind of like Garcia’s in the sense that he’s just playing from the heart— whatever he feels—and that’s the most important thing. The fact that we can go out and do a ‘69 show one day, an ‘87 show the next day and then our own setlist the next day keeps it interesting for us and for the fan base. Some people chase the ‘69 show. We probably only do one a tour, if that. So it’s a novelty to a degree. We don’t do it all the time, but when we do it, it’s usually pretty fierce because that music’s pretty fierce. DE: It’s the really ravenous fan that loves the ‘69 stuff. It’s a little bit harder to digest sometimes— it’s just so raw and psychedelic. It’s intense. Cotter [Michaels], our longtime soundman loves that stuff. It’s one of his favorite time periods. When I first joined the band, I liked the ‘80s stuff because that’s mostly what I listened to. Of course, Europe ‘72 was pretty instrumental in getting me into everything, but I wasn’t really familiar with Live/ Dead that much. Also, all the bootlegs that came from that time period were not really good quality, and I was interested in hearing quality recordings. But the thing about playing this music and being in this band is that when I did dive into it, I really learned to love it, just like I learned to love all the different decades. If there’s any era of the band I think we do best, it’s probably the mid-‘70s because we’re firing on all cylinders and we’ve got the whole band up there. When I first heard about Dark Star Orchestra many years ago, I was told that you would replicate the Dead’s shows down to the errors, which didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t seem feasible and that sort of approach also would run counter to the ethos of the Grateful Dead. JM: That’s a very common misconception about Dark Star Orchestra. I hear a lot that people say, “Oh, they even copy the mistakes.” No, we really don’t. We make our own mistakes, but anything that smells of an error, we leave that out. If it’s a really fortuitous thing that happens, we might pay tribute to it in some way, but we certainly don’t copy mistakes. RE: You couldn’t replicate a show note for note. It would take me a lifetime to learn a show note for note, even if I could do that, which I’m not sure I could. But why would you even want to do it? The whole point of this music is that it’s improvisation. If you’re copying, then you’re not improvising. If you’re thinking, you’re not playing. I’ve had this conversation many times with people, and this music is based on improvisation. The analogy I often give is that we’re painters and we’ve got this canvas. The frame of this canvas is the year, the setlist, maybe the arrangements of the songs and tonally what’s happening. Then everything that gets splattered on the canvas over the course of the evening is all the improvisations. The only restrictions are the arrangements from that time period and the order of the songs in the setlist. It was a common misconception because people say, “Recreating Grateful Dead shows.” Well, you can’t recreate a Grateful Dead show. You can play a setlist. So we go out there and play as we know how to play and let it fall where it falls. It’s really quite simple. Frankly, because we’ve been doing it for so long, I think we’re playing this stuff freer than we ever have. It’s definitely morphed into something a little bit different in the last couple of years than it was 15 years ago. What is the process of selecting a setlist? DE: Scott Larned was the person who would pick the shows when I first got in the band. The idea was to not play a lot of repeats from night to night, just like the Dead. We also mix it up and try to do different time periods each time we go to the same venue or the same area, so that people aren’t getting 1988 over and over again. It’s quite a jigsaw puzzle, and after Scott passed on, Rob Eaton did it for a long time. Then he wanted to step away from that, so it was kind of voted that I would be the right person to do it. It’s extremely time consuming and it’s something you do during your time at home. So many different aspects come into play. Something that people might not realize is that stage size matters as well because we can’t do an ‘80s show on a lot of stages—they won’t fit all of our stuff. It’s definitely a chore, but it’s also a fun challenge. Eventually, I met someone who offered to put together a database that allows me to search out a show that doesn’t have any repeats of a given night. That helps me narrow down the shows a lot easier, although I still have all the other factors I mentioned. I also might look for anniversary dates, which is a fun thing to throw in when possible, especially when it’s the same date in the same city. That just happened on the last tour in Chicago. We happened to be there on November 18 this year, which is when the Dead had played there, right across the street. All things being equal, do you prefer staying in the same era for a few nights or would you prefer to jump around from show to show? RE: I like jumping around, but what was really interesting is what happened when we went to Europe the September before last and we did nine shows that were all Europe ‘72 shows. We were repeating a lot of the same stuff every night. I think I played “Truckin’” every night, and there were at least seven or eight other songs that we played every night. I saw how the Dead progressed so quickly, how they moved through material and how the material changed. Just in playing something nine shows in a row, every night I was trying to play it a little differently than the night before, adding something different or approaching it differently. I could see from the first show in London to the last show in Rome, how I was looking at it differently, and that was only a two-and-a-half week span. So I think of the Dead when they were over in Europe for five, six weeks and how that material really morphed and changed from the first show to the last show. I understood how that happened because I had to play all those shows in a row. How do you approach the elective shows where you create your own setlists? DE: We do custom elective sets about one third of the time, maybe even a little bit more. It’s somewhat like what most Grateful Dead bands do, but we do it in the sense that we are familiar with all these different approaches to each song. It’s often modernizing the earlier stuff. For instance, we’ll play “Alligator” and Jeff will do it on his woolly mammoth guitar. [Mattson has a guitar that was built in the style of Garcia’s Rosebud guitar from 1990.] RE: The elective shows for me are by far the most satisfying and fulfilling for multiple reasons. One is there’s no roadmap, there’s no frame, there’s no order and there’s no arrangements. All those things go out the window and you can piece together a song from ‘69 into a song from ‘79. That’s something the Dead never did. So it opens up another way of looking at the music and constructing setlists with the freedom that we have. We take everything we know about all these different versions of the songs and make them our own to a certain degree. I have some arrangements of songs that we only do in an elective format. “Let It Grow” is a prime example. There are all sorts of different ways that Weir looked at “Let It Grow” from ‘73 on. So I took different parts of all those versions and made one version of it. That’s the one we play during electives because the Dead never had it arranged that way. So if we do “Let It Grow” in an elective set, then we all know it’s going to be that particular version, which has elements of ‘73, ‘76 and ‘87. JM: The elective setlists are written by me and Rob Eaton because we sing the lion’s share of the songs. Sometimes we might imagine what it would have sounded like if the Dead had brought back a certain song in 1989. It’s also a great opportunity to play some songs that don’t get played very often in the show, like “If I Had the World to Give,” which they only played three times. So when the ballad comes around, we might put that in or “Visions of Johanna” or something like that. You can do things like play something from one era that never got played with another song because they were from two different eras. You can also play things from the same era that the Dead never put together, like “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot” and instead of going into “Franklin’s Tower” going into “Foolish Heart,” “Feel Like a Stranger” or something else people aren’t expecting. We have to be careful that we don’t fill the show up with esoterica, though. I remember one time we were doing an elective set for Jerry’s birthday, and we wanted to celebrate with all this different interesting stuff that Jerry liked to sing. Unfortunately, some people in the audience were appalled because they didn’t know half the songs we played. So we try to avoid that. [Laughs.] Rob, you were a Dead taper back in the day, before the creation of a designated section. What are your recollections of taping during that era? RE: It was venue to venue, but we’d have to get pretty creative with how to get our stuff in. I did everything, including strapping a deck underneath a girl’s long skirt. The cables were wrapped around my waist and I’d make crutches out of mic stand pieces, then reassemble it all when I was inside. I also rented a wheelchair and had somebody sit on the tape decks. The cables were wrapped around that person’s waist and the stand was part of the wheelchair. Barry Glassberg, who was a dear friend of mine and a taper back in the day, looked like an accountant. He had his suit on. He’d come from work with his briefcase and the briefcase held all his taping stuff. Sometimes you’d grease the guy at the door—20 bucks just to get your stuff in. It was an adventure, and once you were in there, it didn’t mean you could stay in there if there was hardass security—like in Hartford, which gave us a tougher time than anywhere else. You wanted to be one of the first ones in, so you’re waiting in front of a door—usually one of the side doors, not the main ones. You’d try different doors, and if you didn’t get it in, you’d just put it in your car and then go in to watch the show. There wasn’t a scene outside back in the ‘70s or even the early ‘80s. Once the show was going on, it was empty outside. There were no Shakedown Streets and stuff like that. Is it an odd experience watching people tape your shows? RE: It’s someone’s hobby. There’s no right or wrong to anything. Someone enjoys going out and taping and putting it on their shelf and labeling it. That’s great. It’s what I used to do all the time, right? I did it mostly for the Dead, but I know people who used to go to all the clubs in New York and record every chance they got. It didn’t matter who it was. They just liked documenting something that they were at. It’s a hobby—setting up your gear and looking at the meters and all the other stuff. The members of the Grateful Dead have sat in with DSO over the years. Is there a particular moment that stands out? DE: The first time Weir sat in with us because he was the first of the Core Four that came in, and we didn’t really know that it was actually going to happen. It was at the Warfield in San Francisco for a Rex Benefit [on 4/13/02], and we had heard the possibility that it might happen. Then that afternoon, this amp shows up—one of his sit-in amps—and his guitar showed up, too. We were like, “Wow, this is looking like it’s going to actually happen.” I’d been in the band for maybe a couple of years at that point, so this was quite a big deal. When he strolled up onstage and started tuning up his guitar, it was like what I’d seen so many times before. Then he looked straight at me, like “Are you ready?” I gave him a nod and it was goosebumps. It was definitely a profound moment for me. Bob has always been very gracious, and I think he’s played with us five different times. Phil’s played with us twice, and the first time at the Fillmore was special. That was one where Phil turned and gave me the look in the eye. That was something. One time at the Great American, Weir was up there and Rob stepped off to let him do it. But before the very last song, Weir’s like, “We’re going to bring out Rob Eaton.” Then Rob gets up there, so it’s the two of ‘em, and Weir goes, “What you have here is too much of a good thing.” [Laughs.] You’ve been hosting your Dark Star Jubilee event ever since 2012. What does that represent to you? RE: The Jubilee was created as a family-friendly festival where you bring your own beer, recycle, respect one another. We’ve kept it small because we don’t want it to be this giant thing. If more people are there, then you get the nitrous mafia, then you get people stealing from tents while others are at the show. The Jubilee is our way of giving back to our community. It’s a way for our fans to connect with each other and go to a festival where they feel like it’s their own. Our fans have seen us grow up right in front of their eyes—they’ve seen us go from playing little bars to playing theaters. They were around for a lot of it, and they feel like we’re a part of their lives as much as they’re a part of ours.

Hell yeah, we even spent some time on the rail last night! Place was slow to fill up, but eventually got pretty tight. The slope and the seats had lots to do with that. We carved out a small flat spot at the top and wore a few layers off the carpet. There were some gems in there last night but the closing sequence was a mind bender. Crazy Fingers, oh yeah baby, Jeff killed it. Not a sound from the crowd during the tender Dew moments. Killer place and crowd, thanks much to band and crew for laying it down!

89/04/12 Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, IL Jack Straw, Row Jimmy, Minglewood Blues, Tennessee Jed, Masterpiece, Cumberland Blues, Let It Grow. Touch of Grey, Truckin' >Smokestack Lightning> Spoonful>Smokestack Lightning>He's Gone> Drums>Space>Take You Home>Watchtower> Wharf Rat>Lovelight. E: Black Muddy River. last Spoonful 87/09/07 [124] Peeking around the historic show at Cameron Indoor on this day in 78, let us glance at the final April 12 performance for the boys in the city of big shoulders. Never go wrong with Jack Straw as an opener, Cumberland always welcome. Star of the first the Let It Grow. Smokestack sandwich the memorable anomaly of the show, although the Smokestack section less than three minutes combined. A Dead Base dive revealed the sequence was also played on 84/11/02 at BCT. Further down the wormhole, that show also contained the first Gimme Some Lovin' and the last Casey Jones until the bust out at RFK in 92. Were you in the house Desert Dead? I enjoyed speakers in the hallways the night after my second row center hardwire with the Big Man. Praise DSO.

We found some floor rear GA Tix for 100 but when we went to get our floor bands I offer the 2 wristband girls $50 to give us the Pit 1 front pit wristbands. They had already banded meili and the girl quickly rips her GA band off and gives us both pit 1 and I slipped them a $50 total. Those tix were $600 each lol. We had a fantastic 2 hours up front. The only issue is I was expecting a set break instead of 1 2-hour set. It would have been nice to sit and chill for a bit and enjoy the perfect night around 73 degrees and reflect on the set and enjoy the atmosphere with 50k peeps there. And on the way in we had the south lot right next to where we had to enter just by luck. So we walked 200 feet to the entrance and were in. Pretty charmed night. Popped the 2 hour ride home like a champ and crashed like a champ lol. We were stuck in the lot leaving the show for 45 minutes. Most knew no point getting in line so popped some Jerry band and smoked and hung with peeps in the lot. Was a different crowd. We were dancing harder than anyone else and wasn’t even close. Mostly a head Bob or a chick dancing a bit. Their crew was videotaping me too which I don’t like but We were only ones in the pit getting down. There was tons of room if you weren’t crammed up 5 feet from the stage which she did a few times to get some great action shots of mick. I mean he’s so animated, every other picture looks like a professional caught the perfect moment because he gives you poses and animation constantly. Was definitely a blast. Will probably be the last time though. They did a nice Charlie video tribute before the show started which was cool.

89/04/11 Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, IL Shakedown Street, Little Red Rooster, Friend of the Devil, Victim or the Crime, Built to Last, We Can't Hide, Memphis Blues, Deal. Samson and Delilah, Crazy Fingers>Playin' in the Band> Terrapin Station>Drums>Space>Gimme Some Lovin'> Standing on the Moon>Throwin' Stones>Not Fade. E: US Blues. Robyn at GDTS, who went to school with me at Maryland and ended up marrying David Lemieux, hooked me up with second row center for this spin in the Windy City. Shakedown epic, plenty of new material, and a hammered pre drums. It was 32 years ago today. Praise DSO.

T, its amazing how much we grow when we lose. How much we gain through loss, how much loss makes us feel when those nuggets of joy are given for us to experience. Sorry about ruff times and the fate of life. At times it seems its never ending. Perpetual cycles of ups and downs or constant downs. Hits you harder when your down, then hits you again till you become numb to all the blows. From dreary and cold nights of winter comes the rebirth of spring, to the long days of summer, back again through the strange nights of fall. Life is seasonal, but not always on time. Sometimes those seasons last months, year, years, a decade or two. Not always sure time heals but it does offer reflection, growth, and a sense of peace going through the worse accepting the tides, being more cautious, and eventually being wiser and more accepting as you experience more of the same. Steps to make you stronger to face a always not so beautiful world. But---with out the darkness there would be no light. Peace be with you brother. You will certainly carry some load, but time will allow you to shed the weight. Just as a caterpillar sheds its cocoon. The experience is part of the change inside. Your a good soul, keep that to heart as you bear the burdens. Little bit of music certainly helps. Support from friends and Jerry/Hunter words that seem to already know how you feel. Keep dancing....glad you got some music. Hope you get more. Take time for yourself T!! The ones you love will be better off with the time you take for yourself!!!

1987 Jerry Garcia Band at The Stone, SF $10.00 for two sets with Jerry pulling up to the front door and being dropped off as we were all waiting in line to get in. 34 years ago. Wonderin' what (or if we'll still be able) to write about 34 years from today?

Rude - I don't mean to be critical and I am sorry if perceived that way. I just want to offer an opinion which came about as a thought from your post which I quoted above. I value and enjoy this forum and want to mention something that could become a potential issue for the forum in the future. Rude - you mention that you were forced to leave Facebook due to the exposed hypocrisy of others. Based on the context of your post above, I am assuming you are referring to hypocrisy in the political arena. In my experiences, Deadheads come in all political shapes and sizes. It is a strong possibility that there are many here who disagree with your political leanings and may even be staunch supporters of our current administration. You have made many political statements in recent months, and I must admit that I am always curious if there will be rebuttals to follow. Fortunately, there have not been many. The reason I say fortunately is because my fear is that too much political discourse would ensue. Soon enough, people would be tuning out of this site for exactly the same reason you have chosen to leave Facebook. In my opinion, it is best to leave politics out of the DSO Forum...no matter how self-assured one is that he/she is on the correct side of the discussion. For the record. Just in case you are wondering what my motivation may be in the above statement, I agree with many of your political statements and disagree with others. I would certainly enjoy talking politics and societal issues with someone like you. I like talking politics with intelligent, well-informed individuals. You are certainly that. I am a down the middle Independent with some left and Socialist leanings, as well as some right and Libertarian leanings. However, in these crazy times, any safe-haven where politics are off-limits is a welcome reprieve. I have always viewed this music and the community surrounding it as the world's greatest safe haven. We unite and find value and love for each other through our shared love of this music ...which helps us to accept, respect, and welcome our differences in the world at large. Rude - I take no issue with your political opinions. I just think about your Facebook statement and by extension the possible same thing occurring to the DSO Forum. I am quite confident that there are a multitude of political opinions amongst this group. If everyone posted political commentary with regularity....this site could very quickly erode into something completely unrecognizable and not all that pleasant. Perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way. I recognize that I am a bit of an outsider here. I like using this platform as an on-line community to discuss matters of Grateful Dead and DSO. I love that it's here and I enjoy reading other people's thoughts on my favorite music. That being said, I am aware that that this site also exists as a means of communication for a group of tour friends and therefore my thoughts above may not exactly apply. Perhaps political commentary on this site should just be viewed as banter amongst friends. Either way.....at least we all know we can agree on black licorice.

Ready to take my parents’ long ago offer to knock me into next year.

We went to the old Asheville Civic Center that holds 7500 and saw Billy Strings open for Umphrey’s McGee. Stellar time. Highlight was Billy Strings jamming with UM to Voodoo Child!