Will

This episode of Tales from the Lot is sponsored by Shakedown T shirts.com with unique lot style T shirts, license plate frames, coffee mugs, and all sorts of things for Grateful Dead, Fish Zappa, Panic and more. ShakeDownT shirts.com where all US orders over $35 ship free. And just for Tales from the Lot listeners, use the code Lot20 for 20% off of any order that's L O T20. Tales from the Lot Greatest Hits, Volume 2. I'm continuing my look back and celebrating all the fantastic guests who've made 25 episodes and over 25,000 downloads possible. So special thanks to all of my guests and to you, the listeners. But up first from episode 13 is Jeff Kerper, whose brother Gary I had on for the Cornell episode. He reminds us about that old adage that it's the thought that counts in gift giving.

Jeff Kerper

Then you mentioned my brother. So he went off to college and he had called me and he said, everybody's talking about this band called the Grateful Dead up here. And so I bought him his birthdays in January and I bought him the album of Skeletons from the Closet. I mean, that's what you do, right? You get the greatest hits. Yeah, and. But I got it, you know, he was away and I. So I think I got it in like November or December of 76. And I slit the plastic. I wanted to hear it, man.

Tommy Kennedy

I couldn't wait.

Jeff Kerper

I want. So I slit the plastic, I put it on, I put the headphones on and I never gave it to him. I was like, this is pretty good, man. This is interesting stuff. So I. That was my first exposure to them. And then friend from high school lent me skull and roses and Europe 72 and it was all over. I mean, you know, just the headphones in my. In my room with Bertha as like, wow, this is different. This is not like unlike anything I've ever heard before. And then, you know, China Catch from. From Europe 72, Jack Strum. There's just so many great songs. And that was it, you know, full speed. We were into it. And then the Dead movie came out also before I ever saw the band, you know, and so we went to see. We went to see the movie. It was a huge, you know, field trip and. And we were like, oh, my God, are we ever going to get to see this thing? You know, really gives you this feeling that, like, people waiting in line and stuff like that. We're like, will I. Will I ever get to see the Grateful Dead? And then they. I remember driving in the summer and they announced that they're playing at Englishtown with Marshall Tucker opening up. I mean, one of the chances. What are the chances? Was Marshall Tucker the New Riders or the New Riders, Marshall Tucker and the Grateful Dead at Englishtown? And I just, you know, u turn on the road. I went to pick up my friend. We used to have to drive down to, like, the Macy's or the Alexanders in White Plains, New York, and go to Ticketmaster. We were probably the first people in the entire east coast to buy tickets. We were waiting at the window for them to open up. And of course, you know, it was almost unlimited seating. It didn't sell out. There was no such thing. I mean, they were going to let as many people in as they could. There was about 100 a quarter there, maybe 150,000. It was a massive concert. And 16 of us drove down. It was the Labor Day before senior year of high school, and we had two station wagons with eight guys in each station wagon. And it was a memorable moment in my life. I mean, yeah.

Will

Up next, Paul kjellberg from episode 14 reminds us to never ingest anything from a wizard.

Paul Kjellberg

So I think it was pretty similar to that. Just, you know, pretty. Pretty massive crowd, massive sound system.

The.

The weird thing was, as we're walking in and I think just as we're getting to our spot, there's this guy, and I noticed he's dressed like, in this wizard garb with, like, a hat and a cape. And I look over and it's. It's hot. It's gotta be getting close to 100 degrees. And I doubt there was any hydration going on on either Ed or I's part at this point, you know. And I see Ed taking a big swig of this guy's water vessel. It was like a. Like a wine satchel, you know, one of those things that a wizard would have, I guess. And I look and I thought immediately in my head, I'm like, oh, boy, that's not a good idea. And I kind of grabbed a little bit. I said, hey, man, what was that? He's like, oh, it's just juice. I'm really thirsty and I'm. The light bulbs are going on, and I'm thinking, oh, no, this, this might be a problem. And sure enough. And I don't know if it was the mushrooms or if it was the wizard. I, you know, I told him, dude, you don't never take, don't drink anything from a wizard. That's a bad idea. To dead show.

First of all.

Yeah, first of all, yeah, and it's getting close to showtime, and I notice Ed's behavior is getting, like, more and more erratic and he's starting to bump into people. And I'm thinking, oh, boy, the show's about to start. And, you know, Ed's starting to lose it a little bit here. And, you know, we were both, I mean, I would say fairly, you know, fairly experienced voyagers at that point. You know, we're 21. You know, you've had some experiences. But he was starting to go off the rails a little bit. And I remember somebody by us. There must have been some other people having issues because they directed us. And I think it was like a wavy gravy, like, medical tent just like immediately to my right between the soundboard and the side of the field. And this person said, let's bring them over to the tent because he's going to start. He might start having a problem here. So we walk him over, and at this point, the show's starting and it's let the good times roll. And I wasn't, at this point, I'm not going to let anything get in my way, including maybe Ed having a little bit of a, you know, wizard dose or whatever happened, you know. So I brought him over there and somebody that seemed like it was a good spot and people were, you know, friendly and they, they knew exactly what to do. So I. I walked the 30 yards back to my blanket, which was just sitting in the exact spot. And right in time for that race is on to come, slamming in. And then my favorite trio of that Help Slip Franklin's comes knocking in after that. And that was my first one of Help Slip Franklin's. And I was just rocking, I mean, for the rest of the show, having a great time. Luckily, Ed, before the second set, he comes wandering back and he had regained his senses, so he was able to enjoy the rest of the show with me, and he was fine. So luckily it was crisis averted at that point.

Will

I'm glad Ed was okay. Next up from episode 15, it's Aaron Okerson describing that moment that the band, you know, that moment, you get it, that whatever song that is they're playing and it just hits you and you get on the bus. I'm sure you remember that song.

Aaron Okerson

It was pretty life changing for a little bit. I was like, I still don't know if this is for me, but Bobby saying, a hard rain's gonna fall. And I was like, oh, man, this guy is like up there. He's doing great. It just It. I thought that was probably the. The moment that I was like, oh, this is.

Kurt Vader

This is.

Aaron Okerson

For me, this is good.

Will

Yeah. Were you. You're a Dylan fan before?

Aaron Okerson

I. Yes. I've heard, you know, the normal Dylan songs. I actually, right before that song had started, I said, do they ever do any covers? Kind of thinking maybe, oh, I might hear some other song that I know that's not theirs, but. And then they start into a cover. It was great, you know.

Will

Yeah, that's a great Dylan song, too.

Aaron Okerson

I love that song. Yeah.

Will

Up Next, from episode 16, it's Steve White with a fantastic story about Lake Acid. I mean, Lake Placid.

Steve White

So, you know, we were just buzzing with excitement for this show. And this is where things are a little fuzzy for me in the beginning of the story, but it solidifies, you know, so, like, the night before the show or the day before the show, I'm hanging out in the basement of a fraternity, drinking beer with a bunch of guys, and there's this fellow hanging out there who wasn't part of our friend group, or maybe he was, but he's talking about how he's heading for Lake Placid that day. And I said, wow, you know, could I hitch a ride with you? And he's like, sure. And. And so I didn't know who this guy was. He was a friend of a friend, but I. I just wanted to get a head start on everybody else. I didn't have a car, I didn't have a ride, so I'm just going to grab the first thing that comes along. So I end up in this pickup truck with this. This relative stranger who I figure out about 15 minutes into the ride. You know, the back window of his pickup truck is broken out, and he's broken out the back window of his pickup truck so that he can grab beers out of the bed of the truck while he's driving. Yeah, he'd done that. He'd made that a convenience for himself. And so I had a couple of beers with them, but I'm now riding, you know. You know, and he was a pretty good drunk driver, I'll say. Which is, you know, not something you necessarily want to say. But, you know, he. We're cruising, and he said, so where are you. Where are you headed at this point? I'm on the bus, right? There's nothing I can do. And. And I think this must have come up previously or I probably wouldn't have taken the ride. But along the way, he goes, so, where are you staying? And I said, I Don't really know. I'm just. I just want to get to Lake Placid, and I'll figure it out when I get there. And he's like, really? And I said, yeah. And he goes, so you don't know anybody in Lake Placid? And I said, no. And he said, well, there's this house on the outskirt of town. It's called the. The Spud Hut. It's this farmhouse in the middle of a potato field. It's a bunch of hippies there. They'll probably let you stay there. And I was like, okay. So he takes me to the Spud Hut. You know, we get there, and I see a bunch of guys out front playing Hacky Sack. And he says, all right, having. We'll see you later. So I get out of this truck, walk up to the Spud Hut, and say, hey, guys, my name's Steve, and, you know, I'm going to the show tomorrow. Is there any chance I could crash on your floor tonight? And they're like, yeah, of course.

Bruce Asher

Problem?

Steve White

So I just start playing Hacky sack, drop my backpack down, and, you know, and now I've found a place to stay for the night. I don't know. Half hour later, they said, hey, we're going to go into town, and if we go to the Hilton, they've got a free buffet there. You know, if you buy a beer, you can eat all the food you want. And I was like, that's perfect. So up in a car with a bunch of other strangers, and we head into Lake Plaza, go to the Hilton. I buy a beer and stuff my face with as much buffet food as I possibly can while they're doing the same thing. You know, we're. We're being well behaved about it, but, you know, we're taking advantage of the system for sure. And, you know, I've spent my, you know, my money that is allocated that night on a beer, and I turn around to leave the bar and with these guys, because I'm catching a ride home with them. And as we're leaving, you know, we're. We're exiting the bar, and I walk right into Bob Weir. Bob Weir is entering the bar, and on his left is Bill Kreuzman, and on his right is Brent. Brent Midland. The three of the three of them, and I have now, like, are blocking each other from entering or leaving the bar. And I knew that it was Bobby's birthday that day, the 16th. And I said, hey, Bobby, happy birthday. And he goes, yeah, thanks, man. And. And I Said, how do you like the Adirondacks? Because it was October in the Adirondacks, which is like the most beautiful time to be there. And he's like, it's, it's freaking gorgeous and we're really having a great time. We're happy to be here. Like, that's so cool. And I, at this point I'm like, my tongue, I'm chewing on my tongue, trying to figure out what I'm going to say next. At which point Brent goes, where's the head in this place? And I said, it's right down the hall. So I walk with Brent Midland down the hall to the men's room, take a piss with Brent, shooting the breeze with him while we're both, you know, taking a leak. And at this point I'm not going to leave. So I walk back down the hall with Brent, back into the bar, and the guys that I come with are realizing what's going on. So I mean, I had enough money to have one more beer, so I basically am hanging out with these guys and, and you know, the, the Bobby, Brent and Bill kind of went off to their own corner and we kind of let them be, but we're kind of all there, slack jawed, like we're hanging out in the Hilton with these guys.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

Right.

Will

How can you not be?

Steve White

So I didn't really have much more interaction with them.

Kurt Vader

Yeah.

Steve White

But also you didn't want to get up in their business too much either.

Will

Right.

Steve White

So we, we had a flight encounter, but that was like the, I haven't even gotten to the show yet. Right. And I've, I've, I've hitchhiked down in this crazy truck, found these crazy hippies and then met the band that all that night before and then ended up back at the Spud Hut and spent the night. And then the next day, of course, everybody's rolling into town and again, a lot of anticipation. And I think one thing that can't be left out about this was the, the venue was the Olympic ice Arena. It's 1983, three years prior to that, the Winter Olympics, the miracle on ice was in this arena. This is where the US Hockey team had beat the Russians. So this, this was kind of a, a legendary venue where the Dead are going to be playing. And so there's a lot of vibe to the town. There's. And we're only three years after the Olympics, so all the Olympic infrastructure is still present. And you know, they can handle crowds and so on. But of course also the hippies are all running around town blacking out the Pl on all the signs. So instead of Lake Placid, it now said Lake Placid was what you saw everywhere you looked.

Will

That's great. That's great.

Steve White

And so the vibe was really good. You know, everybody's coming from all over the place. But you had to really want to be in Lake Placid to be at these shows.

Will

It's a kung fu morning sun is

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

shining on me I'm just trying to

Will

get my space together can't you see

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

I need some kung fu coffee

Bruce Asher

Ugh.

Will

I have this 8 o' clock meeting

Bruce Asher

at the office and I'm not feeling it here, babe.

Will

Try some kung fu coffee Kung fu

CP

coffee Damn, that coffee kicked my ass.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

There's five more bands at the festival today and I didn't sleep at all last night.

Steve White

Here, try some kung fu coffee

Will

Mother, that coffee kicked my ass.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

Our coffee beans are grown in our secret laboratory deep underground in Canada with a recipe handed down from my Uncle Tom. Our facility is protected by several hundred top notch ninjas who also participate in grinding the beans with their bare hands. And, well, I suppose that's where we got our name.

Will

It's a kung fu morning

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

sun is shining on me I'm just trying to

Will

get my space together can't you see I need some kung fu coffee Kung fu coffee it kicks your ass.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

All right.

Will

Up Next, from episode 17, it's Michael Loy Bay who is coming to me from Budapest. He's got a great story about just the magic and the power that's in the live music of the Grateful Dead.

Michael Loy Bay

So a year later, it was 4-30-88 at the Frost. So this is on Stanford campus. This is like 10 minutes from my house. And I didn't have a ticket, but that was the first time I experienced the lot, the shakedown Street. The parking lot. Because at the stadium, that thing was a little commercial right There wasn't. Yeah, there wasn't that scene going on. It was. You got your ticket, you go in, you see the show, you leave, you know. Sorry, what were you saying?

Jeff Kerper

Just not your typical Dead show.

Michael Loy Bay

No, it was absolutely not. Exactly. Exactly. So that one, I was on the parking lot, and only on the parking lot. I didn't get into this one, but I remember seeing these crazy people. Some of it was a little unsettling, I gotta admit. Like, I'm not one to glorify every aspect of the dead either. I think we have to remain critical. That's what a good friendship is all about. Personally. And there were some people who were obviously lost. Like, obviously lost their fucking mind. And that was kind of sad to see. You know, I remember this guy with a little string and he was pulling this little plastic alligator behind him and talking to it. And I was like, whoa, okay, there's that side too. But I remember the drum circle. I remember really good vibe, obviously. All the vendors. Just super fun party out there. I wasn't even inside. And the music wafted over. You know how the wind can waft it over and sometimes you hear a little bit more and a little bit less.

Kurt Vader

Right.

Michael Loy Bay

So I was circling around there in parking lot in the frost. Beautiful Stanford campus. There's all these eucalyptus trees. It's just super mellow. California. Right? And this one waft of sound comes over and it was. It makes my hair stand. I'm just thinking of a memory of a waft of sound that doesn't even exist. But anyway. And it was Ship of Fools. I don't know where in that song, but that hit so hard.

Jeff Kerper

And the fact that you can give me chills talking about it.

Michael Loy Bay

Right, Right. And I got this show. It was actually released. I found this. Must have been pirated, but cd. I got a CD of this show. And so I can revisit. That's the beauty of this technology. Right? I can revisit these exact moments.

Paul Cione

It's.

Michael Loy Bay

It's pretty strange. And, you know, I was stone cold sober. I was some high school kid. I was. I don't know, I was like 17, 18, just seeing this whole thing and. And this. This Ship of Fools. I was like, okay, okay. This band is serious. Like, there's a lot of emotions here. They're not just playing through their best off here.

Steve White

This is different.

Tommy Kennedy

Yeah.

Michael Loy Bay

For me, that was the first time I got the Dead. Believe it or not. It wasn't even inside. It was.

Bob Ingersoll

It was.

Michael Loy Bay

It was really weird. Is that. That was like, okay, I got it. Okay. These guys go deep and they try every time, and sometimes they fail. But when they nail it, wow. You know, and there's no band that comes even close to that in. In my opinion.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

All right.

Will

From episode 18, it's CP who tells us about how listening back to the shows that you were at can just bring you right back to that moment, that feeling, that time, that space.

CP

And then. Then somebody showed me re listen. And I was like, holy moly. What? Why didn't somebody tell me about this? And then he's like, I am telling you about it, you know. But no, I met somebody else. Earlier. And then I found my show, right? I was like, oh, I found Omega's Hills. And when I played it, I played it without looking at the set list because I wanted to just listen. And I'm like, holy shit. I can't believe I got this as my first show. You know, Like, I had no idea. And I. And, like, I mean, I appreciated it because it was the first time that we had that I ever took lsd. But I didn't really know a lot of the songs, right? Like, it's so. Like, I remember Terrapin playing, and, you know, the clouds are doing their thing. They're swirling and. And. And just like, what?

Aaron Okerson

What?

CP

Oh, what is this? You know, like. And it was like, boom. I mean, that was it. I was hooked from Terrapin. Like, it was just like, I can't believe this is like. You know, it's like a mat. It's like an orchestra or something. You're. You're just going, how are they doing that? How is a band doing that? And then, like, when they were, you know, when they were going from one song into another, you know, I was like, did they just, like, fade into another? You know, I'm like, you know, trying to figure it all out.

Aaron Okerson

And.

CP

And then, you know, obviously, with the help of the increased serotonin and all that, it was pretty wild.

Will

All right, up Next from episode 19 is George Michaels, where the story of how once you get on the bus, your life changes dramatically instantly.

Michael Loy Bay

Yeah.

George Michaels

It was one friend of mine, Kevin Cunningham, and we used to. We used to be club kids going to Manhattan. We were, like, 17, even too young to go in the bars, but they let you in. And then one day his brother Mark said, hey, do you want to see the Grateful Dead up in Saratoga, New York, on a Sunday in the summer? And, you know, we said, okay, why not? And it just turned into a thing. It really rained really hard. It was 1984, and I lost my car for three hours. You know, I was in a Portisan with a girl and my friend also for a while, and the music was cool. They did Satisfaction that night. You know, it was. It was quite a show in the rain. And just something clicked. And then all my friends, we all went from being club kids to Deadheads overnight, literally, to the point where. Yeah, I mean, the first year I had seen, like, 15 shows. Right away, we were traveling. The next show I went to was in Virginia, you know, and then I just started going. But not 100%. Every tour, every show, but, you know.

Will

Yeah, it seems that that Was that once that button is kind of flicked. Yeah, there's. You just dive in. Because there's so much to dive into, really. Like, as far as past history.

George Michaels

Yeah. It's like, where's this world been? You know, it's almost like, where's it going? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Will

At that point.

Paul Cione

It's.

George Michaels

It was a really cool thing, though, you know?

Will

Right. And so you saw, like, 15 shows the first year, and then.

George Michaels

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw a couple in the fall that year. I went down to Richmond. I got my friends to go down to Richmond. Then we saw the Meadowland shows. But then the spring of 85, that was a lot of fun. We went up to Springfield and did the Nassau shows. When Phil broke out Tom Thumb Blues. And, man, I went up to Rhode island that. That tour. And then down to Philadelphia, of course. I think I did nine shows on that tour.

Will

All right, from episode 20, it's my good friend Kurt Vader here. We're talking about taking his dad to see the Grateful Dead. And what a great dad move that was, by the way. We brought the Grateful Dead movie from Blockbuster somewhere and to your house to watch with your. With your dad. To turn it on.

Kurt Vader

Did we watch it with my dad?

Will

Yeah, we do.

Kurt Vader

Yeah, we.

Will

Right there in your living room, we watched the Grateful Dead movie. And that's. Well, that's what got your dad sort of on board with going. He's like, they're not bad.

Kurt Vader

He went to. Was it 93 he went to, or 94? He went to one of those.

Steve White

Right.

Will

So, like, I have this. This vivid memory of you and I rolling up to his office because he was sort of the boss of what he was doing. And we go up there, and he's on the phone and he's like, yeah, I gotta go. Yeah, I gotta go. Listen, I'm going to a Grateful Dead concert. I gotta go. And you guys take it off to that. I think we. We met you somewhere along the way. Because I was like, you know, I was too cool for that. I was like, I like your dad and all, but I think I'm gonna go hang out with these people who are taking the ass.

Kurt Vader

I kind of remember a little bit, you know, my dad, like I said, he's into Christian music, but he was a good dad. He still is a good dad. He's still around. And he always showed up. You know, he was there. He'd show up. He'd go to all the stuff, and he. I think, you know, I'm like, 17 or 18, and he he wanted to see what I was into. And it's weird, because that's their era, you know, the Grateful Dead. That's. Yeah, he never got into that stuff. He was into other music. Never got into the hippie, you know, But I think it was just. He was a fish out of water, man. You know, doing cartwheels and chipping their balls off.

Will

Didn't. Didn't he take your mother back the next year or something like that?

CP

Like.

Kurt Vader

No, no, no, mom, no.

Will

Oh, okay.

Steve White

All right.

Kurt Vader

Just the one time. I. I still. I. That was a. That was a good dad thing. That was a good dad move. You know, as a dad, I really appreciate it.

Will

All right, from episode 21, it's Tommy Kennedy with a story of how easy it is to forget that the real world is still out there when we're in the Grateful Dead zone.

Tommy Kennedy

It was early 70s. We were doing a lot of experimentation back then.

Paul Kjellberg

And

Tommy Kennedy

back then, people used to. Some people used to paint their faces to go to a Dead show. And so we decided to paint our faces to go to the show. And we didn't have tickets, right? So we had to take the trolley. And I have my face all white with red lips, blue eyeshadow, and black teardrops coming off my eye. And we get on the trolley, and this one woman just burst out laughing. And we're like, what's so funny? They're like, you guys, we're going to a Dead show.

Jeff Kerper

You know, the circus is in town.

Tommy Kennedy

Yeah, we got tickets and we got in, so it was great.

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

All right.

Will

In episode 22, Bruce Asher tells us a story. I don't know, maybe it's a fairy tale, but evidently you used to be able to just walk up to the box office and get tickets. The day of the show, I. I

Paul Kjellberg

saw them out in.

Bruce Asher

In.

Paul Kjellberg

In Salt Lake City, which was a tremendous show in 1981. That's kind of a cool road. That's my favorite road trip story, and it also involves another musician beside the Dead in the story. I graduated college. I was traveling out west, bouncing around. I visited friends in la. We went up the coast all the way to Vancouver, and then I made my way across. I ended up in Salt Lake City with the intention of spending one day there. Just do some sightseeing and hit the road. I check into a cheap hotel. Middle of the afternoon, I see a bar near. Right around the corner from the hotel. Says, live music tonight. So I go in, have a beer, ask the bartender what's going on. He says, they canceled tonight. There's no band. I'm sitting at the bar and I'm reading the local newspaper and says, grateful Dead, Salt Palace, August 12. So off I go. I run to the arena. I. I buy it. I buy a ticket. I check into University of Utah. Cheap, six dollar a night rooms for students. A couple of nights later, I'm back at that same bar and there's a band playing. And I'm sitting at the bar with my back to the band. Suddenly I hear a very familiar saxophone. I look over and it's Grover Washington. And he's playing with some local band in Salt Lake City at this bar I'm at. So I went up to him during the break. I said, what are you doing here? He said he was in town recording, felt like playing that night. So in the span of a few days or so, Grover Washington, the Grateful Dead in Salt Lake City.

Will

That's awesome. Being able just to walk up and get a ticket. Those were the days, as Archie would say. Yeah, absolutely. All right, up next is Bill bigelow from episode 23 with a story I'm sure is familiar to all of us about that certain family member or friend who turned you on to the Grateful Dead.

Bruce Asher

You know, my very first concert, my friend Ned Leathers. I just want to give a plug to Ned, who is no longer living. But Ned just had such great musical tastes and just sort of took me, began taking me along, and I can't even. I can't even believe that my mother let me go. But on. On May 15, 1968, at the Carousel Ballroom at the corner of Market and Van Ness in San Francisco. Later, bec the Fillmore west, the Hell's Angels had a concert with Big Brother in the Holding Company as headliners and the Young Bloods and a little group called rejoice. It was a dollar. It said no minors. I was like 16 or whatever I was then, but, you know, they weren't checking IDs. And so I felt like, you know, I had kind of discovered the meaning of life. I'd never seen anything like Dennis Joplin and Big Brother before. And so Ned and I began going to concerts pretty much every, you know, every week, every weekend, and sometimes more. And the Dead, at that point, that was in the little sliver of time when the Dead and the Airplane and Quicksilver and Big Brother were running the Carousel Ballroom. And then Bill Graham had the original Fillmore over on Fillmore street. And. And so I began seeing the Dead at the Carousel. And so which. And they were uneven. You know, they. I I can remember one time going, and there might have been like maybe a couple hundred people there or so. And I remember turning to Ned and saying, God, I hope that they can get some enthusiasm up with so few people. And so those were. Those were before there was anything called Deadhead.

Will

Wow, that's some great bands to see at that time.

Bruce Asher

It was an amazing time. And. And, you know, I don't know if you've talked on your show about. About Bill Graham and, you know, you kind of had to love him and hate him, you know, because he was a mean SOB and he. But on the other hand, you knew that if at a Bill Graham organized concert, you know, they were going to start on time, you were going to get three set. You know, three bands with. With doing a set each, and then they were all going to start again and they were going to play at least until two in the morning, if not more.

Will

All right, two in the morning. That's a long show. From episode 24, it's Bob Ingersoll and his lovely wife Belle with a story of a chance meeting with Jerry.

Bob Ingersoll

I loved it. It was great. Jerry was, you know, Jerry. I mean, what can you say? I mean, I have Jerry stories, you know, crazy ones, you know, in 19.

Kurt Vader

What was it, Bill?

Bob Ingersoll

93, 92, something like that. In the Boston Garden, we. We were slightly altered and happy. And after the show, I mean, we're like.

Will

We were blown away.

Paul Kjellberg

We were.

Bob Ingersoll

And the show was so good. We're literally blown away. The Boston Garden empties out. It's just me and Belle, and we had moved over and sat down in some seats behind the stage kind of, you know, because we had to get back to my aunt and uncle's house, which meant going out and getting on a trolley to the green line. Green line to the right. I'm from Boston, so I know my way around. And. And. But we were like, whoa, man, that's going to be a hassle. And so we sat there, you know, trying to bring our molecules back together. And. And then the. A sliding curtain opens up and then Jerry walks out and there's nobody in the place except Belle and I and Jerry. And both Belle and I were like, jerry, like that. And he looks up and he smiles, like from ear to ear and waves. He's got the briefcase, too, so we're like, tripping, you know. Well, literally and figuratively. And. And so. And he waves, doesn't say a word, smiles carefully, walks down the steps and goes out and Bell and I just looked at each other and Goes, wow, that was cool. That kind of stuff, you know it, it's the, those kind of moments and I know everybody that's on your show at least and more so than even some of the stories we have that are like, that, they're like the moments that are part of your life that you reminisce back to and, and, and it all kind of fits together, you know what I mean?

Kung Fu Coffee Voice

I get it.

Will

You're tired of the same old music festival routine. The day old porta potties, overpriced food and water. Finding the perfect spot for your 10 by 10 foot tarp. Well, I've got the answer to all your festival and concert going troubles. Introducing the hippie hologram music festival app and mini projector. One moment you're nestled comfortably in your bean bag chair, surrounded by the soothing aroma of incense and the low light of your lava lamp, and then, shazam. Your living room becomes the epicenter of the ultimate music festival experience. With the hippie hologram app and mini projector, you can teleport to the grooviest festivals without ever leaving the comfort of your home. Picture it. You, your snazziest tie dye onesie and thousands of holographic pals. And you can dance like nobody's watching because nobody is. And forget about missing out on festival eats. We've partnered with the industry leader in food delivery service, grateful groceries. Every new order of hippie hologram music festival app and we mini projector will include a full year of grateful groceries. Oh wow. It's the full festival experience without all the mud or trying to find your tent in the dark. It's the hippie hologram app and mini projector. All right, up Next from episode 25, it's Paul Cione with a story about the links we would go to to get to the Dead show.

Paul Cione

I'd see them whenever they came nearby. I, I never really dropped everything and followed them on tour. I would do swings, you know, catch the New England shows and a couple of times drove to Pittsburgh, which is like a 13 hour drive from Boston, but because it was the Stanley Theater, you know, it was worth the drive and worth driving through a snowstorm in a crotchety old VW bus with no heat and in a, in a snowstorm for one of those, one of those years. I think it was the 80, 81, early 81. They did a run in March of

Will

81, followed by the tires like 5 inches wide on those fans. Right? That's something like that.

Paul Cione

And they're notorious for not having any heat and the windshield was icing over. The windshield wipers are frozen. We eventually had to pull over at a rest area and ride out the snow. And that was an adventure.

Jeff Kerper

Yeah.

Paul Cione

And then we continued on to University of Maryland. This is Again, March of 81. And then somebody, we got a motel, there's a bunch of us, like six or seven of us. And the guy with the keys to the Volkswagen decided to wake up before everybody else and jump on a plane and head back to New York. And he had the keys to the bus with him. And so we were stranded there and, you know, we had to get. You know, this is the pre cell phone age, mind you.

Bruce Asher

Yeah.

Paul Cione

So I can't remember exactly how we. I think he contacted us because he realized that he had the keys and he had the motel information. So he made arrangements. He, I think, was still at the airport, was able to get them on a flight or some sort of, you know, service where they could get him on the next flight. We had to go to the airport, pick them up.

Will

Oh, wow.

Paul Cione

And yeah, it was crazy. It was good. But we were freaking out for a few hours, man.

Will

All right, that's it for now. Thanks for listening. I'll be back soon with a whole new batch of tales from the lot. Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please consider hitting the subscribe button and leaving a comment. Your feedback and engagement really goes a long way to supporting and growing the show. And really, this is your show with your stories. So if you have a story or even a few of them from seeing Grateful Dead shows or experiences of how the band has impacted your life in some way, I'd love to hear from you and have you on. My email is willails from the lot.org reach out. Or you could use the new text me feature that's in the show notes. You can easily reach out and connect with me directly that way. And don't forget to follow on Facebook for updates and exclusive content. And for those who prefer watching, full videos of every episode are available on my YouTube channel. So thanks again and please be kind to yourself and others.