I Never Would Have Imagined....

that when Jonathan Lipschultz told me I should go see a Grateful Dead concert back when we were 17 and arranged it for me, it would connect me instantly with deadheads over 25 years later anywhere I went. There's this instant rapport when you find out the guy next to you in the grocery line or at the cocktail party is one of Jerry's Kids too. Your eyes light up, the memories come rushing back (of the magic and mayhem that only a live Dead show can deliver) ...and you've suddenly got lots to talk about. Why Jonathan picked me for a disciple, I'll never know. We weren't particularly close but had known eachother from school since kindergarten and we both had brainy professor fathers. The show: Alpine Valley with Bob Dylan opening, 1985. You never forget your first. The Last: Brent Mydland's last show at Tinley Park, 1990. In between those 2 shows, I managed to fit in forty one other shows from Buffalo to Sacramento......while simultaneously completing my college degree.

Last night at the pre-party for the David Nelson Band, despite the fact that Jerry's been gone for seventeen years, it was the same heartsong playing...Jerry's Kids connecting with the unconditional love that marked all those concerts way back when. We held hands in a big circle and had a communal blessing which had no words - it was a soulful fiddle that sang the grace held by the gifted hands of Topenga Tony, a man that would entertain me with many photos on his iPod for the remainder of the party. It wasn't the photo of him with Charlize Theron or the other celebrities that impressed me the most but the one of the roach-clip given to him by Janis Joplin back in the 60's. Tony is now 72 years old. He's the proud father of three beautiful and successful daughters (one is the owner of Richie Hippie boutique, one is on staff at Berkeley and the other just came home from four years of flying as a military pilot). He has lots of stories from his years in the music industry. He is the owner of a sunny disposition, and beautiful homes in both California and Hawaii. He has lived and lived large. LARGE.

While chowing down on the delicious food and sipping the Shiraz, I also chatted with a man who came to be known as Snorkie. Snorkie is about my age and hails from Santa Cruz.We discussed everything from organic food and communal gardening to Tesla and the possibility of alien life (pretty standard fare, actually) but there was something about this guy I really liked...something about everyone at the party that I really liked. I can't specifically put my finger on it. What is that certain-something, that family sort of feeling, that connects us deadheads together in to the same fabric?

Later on in the evening before the first set started, another friend, Mike(The Gnome), mentioned that once you have experienced some live Grateful Dead shows, there's almost always a return to complete innocence where you are experiencing all the input to your senses in a very complete and uninhibited way. It's a temporary return to the purity of childhood. He even went so far as to say your brain is permanently changed.

I think that might just be it. Or part of it at least. It's that indescribable experience which somehow interconnects and binds us together.

Even though Dead shows always came to an end, eventually...and so did the magic...its the fruit of those experiences that stay with you permanently.

Enjoy the slide show.(Scroll down below wicked t-shirt of Jerry)And next time the David Nelson Band comes to town, come on down and check it out. The Music Never Stops.

DAVID NELSON BAND REVIEW

Do you miss Jerry?

Enter: David Nelson Band.

Review to be posted soon and slide show of the great concert (and pre-party) last night at Akebono Theatre.

The Music Never Stops!

Set I: Deep Elem Blues
Gimme Love ( G. Harrison)
Babe
Free Mexican Airforce
Just A Season
Where I Came From (Nelson/Hunter)
Standing in the Doorway (Dylan)
Big Six

Set II : Long Gone Sam (DNB)
Snakebite (DNB)
Six of One (Hunter/Nelson)
Lazy River Road (Grateful Dead)
Impressionist Two step (DNB)
Talking Back
Aiko Aiko