long strange story. Early 80s
Grateful Dead doing an outdoor show at the SIU Carbondale venue; yuge grassy bowl of an amphitheater . An intense / brief rainstorm mid-show didnt stop the GD, but did allow dozens of soggy hippies to turn the hillside into a 100yd long ski & slip & slide & wrestle. Watching the mud fly & the wallowing was funny as heII, looked straight outta Woodstock, especially with those purple dots throwing sparks between my ears.
I had sacrificed a US Flag , whip-stitched it up the the day before into a Tux / Tails Top Coat ala the GD movie biker/skeleton. Some nondescript lady at the show comes up to ask " Im taking photos after show , would you come to gate blah blah? " Turns out when there, that was Annie Leibovitz , headed to the Holiday Inn Holi-dome , tasked to shoot a makeup session with Jerry for Rolling Stone ( jer had flaked on a previous shoot back east) but the article focus, thus the pixtography, was a focus on Deadheads following the band. Seemed like a opportune moment to pop another dot if ever there was.
Me & the(n) gf make the Inn & there's Bob & Jerry & Phil & all the blanks lolling about the glass ceiling courtyard, maybe 50 people shooting da'shit.
Now , I do like Dead but in a sick way - actually prefer mid/early studio dead, and while I was burning up a lot road then (for instance I accidentally hitchhiked from StL to Huntington Beach CA twice ... in one week & a half ... due to a misunderstanding involving me, the HB Popo, "the age of majority" & a leafy material in my pocket) , I was not a band follower nor stereotypical deadhead material. Looked more like Conehead the Bavarian, from surfer side of the family .
I wanted to get a little word in with Jerry at least but by the time a spot opens on the couch , that dot has taken control and all I can utter is "Who's Alabama?" as in Get Away. (fwiw; the correct answer was " I dont know, didnt write that".... ). Also learned that Keith & Donna ( who turns out purportedly WERE the Alabamas) were not gonna be back with the Band, after I point out her vocal additions left a hole in the sound. Jer was not particularly charmed with my insights.
Meantimes Annie come back around , asks to see my jacket, then strolls off with it to put in on some Boston southie / leprechaun-looking dude who fit the DeadHead mold (and smelled pretty fungal too!) I thinking - Bitch, gimme my coat back and put me on the cover of the Rolling Stone, but her concept for this photo sess wasn't for tall blonde & US blue longhairs of decent hygiene.
So, somewhere out there is a Rolling Stone issue with 2000 words on Deadheads on about page 17 .. . with Jer & some of the road Kids, featuring my very own US Blues tail coat , hanging down to a leprechaun's knees. & That was my brush with Gratefulness ...
Long Live the Dead, more so if Jerry would have laid off the shit. Oh, and Phil Lesh is mild-mannered & as dorky as he looks but still he's an attempted rapist, though thats another story.
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