Well the day of the show came and Tom and I departed early from work as planned. Tom drove a yellow '79 or so Honda Civic a classic in all ways. We had all our provisions packed and ready. Then we were off to Oakland to meet Tracy at her office and proceed as planned. Upon arriving in Oakland we stopped at a payphone and called Tracy to let her know to be ready. We got to the office building and could not find her (the building was huge) back to the payphone we went. After a few more minutes on the phone we finally knew were to find her. When we got there she was just locking up her office. The doors were like twelve feet tall with these huge door knobs, total corporate Americana. As we were walking down the main hallway to leave the building the wall had this giant "Grand Auto" sign on the wall. I commented how much I wanted to steal one of the letter "A"s off the wall just to have it around. "A" for Andy and well you know.... she quickly said NO! No messing around, her job was important. But I still wanted that letter "A".
With Tracy safely on board we drove to The Days Inn and she went in and got our room. As I waited in the car I couldn't help noticing all the people going in and out of the hotel. They looked like all the people I saw in line to buy tickets. Tracy emerged with key cards in hand and we unloaded Tom's Honda. Safely inside the room we began the preshow ritual. Some food and drink, some different "medicines" and a few final instructions. Tom explained his time table for the "special medicine" and recommended we take it right as the show started, so we could watch the "metamorphosis" as the show went along. I agreed and off we went to the parking lot...
After a short walk to the parking lot we were there. Those same people I had seen before were everywhere. There was music playing from every vehicle, people selling all kinds of stuff, singing, drumming, dancing, stuff I had never seen in parking lots at other shows. People were smiling and having so much fun. We walked around the lot taking in all the sights and sounds. A group of school buses with paintings of Grateful Dead pics, vegi-burritos, chocolate chip cookies with extra ingredients, basically the lot was full of all kinds of really cool stuff. Lots of cool people filled the lot as well. As showtime grew near we began to make our way towards the door to get in. I was happy to see all the people going into the show they all had grins plastered to their faces. I knew I was gonna' have fun. I had been to the Arena before to see many shows, but this was different. I could feel a combination of good things and knew that there was gonna' be a lot more to see.
We made our way through the audience and found a nice place to stand down on the floor. We waited a while and just as the house lights went down the medicine was taken. Now let me tell you, this certainly was not the first time for me, I saw The Pink Floyd outside in the pouring rain in Oakland, and I really was not bothered by the rain....so this would be just another show on good meds, or so I thought.
The set open with a song I later found out was called Shakedown Street, a few verses into it I knew this was gonna' be something good. As The Boys finished the first set with Don't Ease Me In, the "good" was beginning to really function. Since it was my first show I had know idea there was a set break and then a second set. I thought the show was OVER....could I have missed it? As the houselights came up I can vividly remember asking Tom "Is it over?" he just smiled and started laughing. Tracy had a grin and smiled as I looked to her for counsel. "C'mon lets take a walk" Tom said.
As we walked through the set break crowd I was really starting to "get it" there was gonna' be MORE! The music was not over, the time warp I was experiencing was really warped, things were getting stranger and I was enjoying all of it. After about five laps around the main walkway of the arena, (those who remember the arena before the re-model will remember that fine flat mint green color, the ability to "make laps" without stairs to slow you down, skipping along unhindered and all the yellow doors) I heard a roar from the crowd as the lights went down again. We entered one of the many yellow doors and found a nice spot at the top of the stairs. As the band took the stage and got ready, I can remember it perfectly, grinning and contemplating my beard like a mad scientist, I knew why we were all here....
As Scarlet Begonias opened the second set my body began to dance and my mind soon coordinated the movements until I was fully spastic and swooped up into the groove like an eagle catching a fish from a lake.....woosh I was gone.By the time they were fully involved in the Terrapin it was too late for me, space and drums only made me more hungry The Wheel, Watchtower, Standing on the Moon, Sunshine Daydream with a Black Muddy River encore.....I had to have more of this stuff! As the houselights came up I remember having a "that's all?" feeling. As we started making our way to the exit Tom asked "whadya' think?" and all I could do was grin. The feelings of the show having barely set in I responded with "whens the next show?" I was hooked.
Through the lot and down the street to Denny's for some snacks. Heads everywhere, laughter, colors, bacon all of it was to hard to process at the moment so I just kept grinnin' and feelin' fine. The Days Inn was a zoo deadheads filled the hallways on every floor, playing tag with the one lone security dude they would leave one floor and go to the next, and then return, people playin' Frisbee in the halls, music and smoke coming from every room. A different party at every door, crazy things going on all over.... what a scene. When we got our door open we slipped inside and relaxed for a bit. I could clearly hear the circus in the hallway and the clunking noise as the Frisbee careened off the walls as it traveled down the long halls. The occasional silence as everyone ran from that security guy, only to return ten minutes later, what a cool deal this was. I recall one of my finest memories as I stood in the open doorway of our room. I was just watchin' all this happening around me and I look up to see Gumby (the one that hides his face) skipping down the hall. I saw Gumby, yes Gumby! What a capper that was to an already amazing trip. After a while the insanity died down and we decided sleep would be good as we had to work the next morning, yes work booo!
Well the morning came and we woke up, I was still grinnin' and so were Tom and Tracy, but we were good workers so we got ready for the ride home and the ensuing day. We dropped Tracy at the "Giant Building" and hit the freeway to Sonoma County. I pretty much remember laughing my ass off the whole ride home, and the whole night before for that matter, as we pulled into the Napa store parking lot the laughter stopped, back to business, don't lose it at work. We opened the shop doors and started the day. This is a memory that will forever influence me at work, the phone rang and I answered with the standard "Napa Auto Parts, how can I help you?" As I held back the laughter I realized a very important thing "there is nothing else like a Grateful Dead show". I thought of how good I felt, how good the music was,and how thankful I was to Tom and Tracy for taking me to the Show. The day at work was really shiny and at days end I thanked Tom and we both headed to our homes for a bit of down time. I remember driving home and just smilin',listening to a soundboard cassette on my Pioneer cassette stereo........Ahhhhhh what a feeling that was.
* As a postscript to this story a few details should be noted. A few months passed and of course I just kept going to every show I could get to. Soon I realized that all the shows in a run were actually one big show. Now I had to see every show I had to TOUR.
* About four months after my introduction to this amazing new scene, I picked up the phone and it was Tracy on the other end. She explained that they were remodeling the "Giant Building" and that the letter "A" I wanted to steal so badly was going to be removed. A few days later Tom brought me the big red letter "A" and I finally had it....it was the "A" from the word Auto in "Grand Auto". Hell yeah I had the big letter "A". What a prize. Well here it is almost twenty years later and I still have that letter "A", it currently resides on the wall of my shop in my garage in Petaluma.....Ahhhh yes the power of "A".
* Finally I must write about one more cool thing. I introduced a good friend of mine Brian to The Grateful Dead and he too became very interested in the whole scene. We attended his first show together and many more after that. Brian worked down on Fishermans Wharf in the City at a Marine Supply company. Well one day the phone in my shop rings and it is Brian, he says there is someone in his shop I should talk to. As he passed the phone to whoever it was I could only guess one of our friends from out of state had dropped in. The voice on the phone said "Hello how's it goin', my name is Frank". "Nice to meet you" I responded. Why would Brian have me talk to someone I did not know I wondered. Frank continued "Ever been to a Dead show?" "Of course I have" I said. "Ever see a guy dressed in a Gumby costume?" "Hell yes I have, I trip on him all the time". The next words changed my life forever, "Well I am Gumby", the feelings of prior shows, washed through me and I began to smile uncontrolably, I was talking to Gumby, the real Gumby, I got Tom's attention and proudly exclaimed "I'm on the phone with Gumby!". "Yes Gumby", Tom began to smile and then all we could do was laugh. I was talkin' to Gumby. The circle had somehow completed itself, Gumby and The Dead and lots of good times had all just come together in this one space and time. Coincidence I don't think so....magic of The Grateful Dead, hell yes. After that phone conversation I was high all day, I knew Gumby, what a trip to talk to him on the phone, out of the blue like that. Brian and I and many of our group of friends have since partied and hung out with Gumby, hell we even drove him to pick up his costume from the dry cleaners one time. Gumby represented everything cool about going to a show, he gave out little toys to children as he walked around, he drank beer through the eye of his costume, he made so many people so happy, thank goodness for such cool things. Gumby's last known location is somewhere up near Reno or Truckee to the best of my knowledge, I haven't seen or heard from him in a while, but I know one thing for sure if you ever see Gumby dancin' his way through an audience it is probably Frank. Peace
There is nothing like a Grateful Dead show
