Yeah, well… Traveling around the east coast and parts of the mid-west (US) following the Dead was a big part of my life (all of junior high and high school, college and to a lesser extent, law and graduate school and then until we returned to Taiwan in 1995). I saw over 100 Dead shows and all of them were more fun than I can ever relate. Heck, I took my wife to see her first Dead show on the evening of the day we were married (and the next day too). I was able to get my son to a show, one of the Dead’s last shows, in the summer of '95 before returning to Taiwan.
Worked on a farm as a kid and whenever we were doing any type of work that didn’t involve machinery, we had live Dead tapes playin’ loud in the barn.
The Dead were an American band. Their roots were in traditional Appalacian bluegrass (and I realize that much of that came from the UK and Ireland) and blues and jazz and gospel. They also played lots of cowboy songs and train jumping songs. The idea of picking up and taking a road trip that would take me 1000 miles from home to see a band that never had any hits, with barely enough cash to pay for gas, let alone food, and just trusting fortune and the goodness of others, was incredibly appealing, and ultimately, very rewarding to me. And doing so with a coupla pretty, gauze paisley peasant skirt-wearing Deadhead chicks with daisy chains in their long hair was even better!
It was pure and indescribable fun while it lasted… and I have fond memories enough to last me a life time… so yes, lots of things remind me of lyrics from various Dead songs. Why, this post reminds me of the Dead song, “The Music Never Stopped”
[b]
There’s a band out on the highway.
They’re high-steppin’ into town.
They’re a rainbow full of sound.
It’s fireworks, calliopes and clowns –
Everybody’s dancing.
Come on, children. Come on, children,
Come on clap your hands.
Sun went down in honey.
Moon came up in wine.
Stars were spinnin’ dizzy,
Lord, the band kept us so busy
We forgot about the time.
They’re a band beyond description
Like Jehovah’s favorite choir.
People joinin’ hand in hand
While the music plays the band.
Lord, they’re setting us on fire.
Crazy rooster crowin’ midnight.
Balls of lightning roll along.
Old men sing about their dreams.
Women laugh and children scream,
And the band keeps playin’ on.
Keep on dancin’ through to daylight.
Greet the morning air with song.
No one’s noticed, but the band’s all packed and gone.
Was it ever here at all?
But they keep on dancing.
C’mon, children. C’mon, children,
Come on clap your hands.
Well, the cool breeze came on Tuesday,
And the corn’s a bumper crop.
The fields are full of dancing,
Full of singing and romancing,
'Cause the music never stopped.[/b]
