Nov 16

Nov 16 My History With The Grateful Dead (Getting to Meadowlands) Part 2

The bus came by, and I got on; That’s when it all began!

Fast forward to 1978: While the rest of the world was donning spandex and Qiana and heading to the disco, some of us were painstakingly patching our favorite bell bottoms with brightly colored cloth—the more the better; a hopeful coat-of-arms for coolness. Countless hours were spent obsessively patching and embroidering our jeans while listening to the Dead, learning their repertoire, and dreaming of the first show that we were catapulting towards with every molecule of our high school selves.

A new friend from school, Corrie, a gorgeous, brilliant, and rather ethereal creature, was my first ambassador to all things Grateful Dead. I listened rapt, as she deconstructed song lyrics from American Beauty, Wake of the Flood, and other early albums. We practiced blowing smoke rings out her bedroom window to the tune of China Cat Sunflower.

Towards the end of senior year, hearing about summer tour, Corrie, and a couple of our alternative school classmates, David, Paul, and Howie, invited me to join them in Paul’s basement, where we blasted tunes and gathered around the pool table to hand-paint a king-sized bed sheet with a beautiful Stealie to hang at the 9/2/78 show at Giant’s Stadium, aka Meadowlands, in Rutherford, NJ.

**The handpainted banner that our high school selves painted for 9/2/78. Security had dismantled the hanging apparatus that was brought with it. Meadowlands. Photo: P Anderson**

Corrie, and the others began simultaneously experimenting with psychedelics, which clearly bonded them in a way that left me the odd one out. They couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to try something that seemed so enlightening, and they told me that they really didn’t want me hanging around when they were tripping if I wasn’t. Guess it wasn’t real fun for them having a sober observer, but as a 17-year-old, it pretty much sucked, as you can imagine. Since they were tripping all of the time they weren’t in school, we parted ways, and I finished out senior year by concentrating on making some money for college by working at The Ground Round as a waitress.

It was at The Ground Round that summer of 1978, that I was fortunate enough to meet a 19-year-old kind Deadhead waitress named Susie, who upon learning of my love for the Dead and the incident with the little band of high school trippers, kindly offered to take me to my first show at the Meadowlands. Back in the late 70’s, the way we bought tickets was to head to a Ticketron outlet, which is my case, was on the third floor of Sears in White Plains, wedged in-between gift wrapping,, the employees time-clock, and the restrooms. I waited in a relatively short line, plunked over $12.50 for my each of the two rainbow tickets, and was on my way back home with stars in my eyes.

Meadowlands or Bust!

That beautiful and sunny Saturday finally arrived, scorching hot, with a good chance of amazing as we headed down the New Jersey Turnpike in Susie’s convertible Fiat for the first show the Dead would ever play at the 2 year old Giant’s Stadium.

The parking lot, the colorful throngs of people, the enormous arena…and the music…all filtered through the wide eyes of a 17-year-old girl with little exposure to psychedelia, live music, and the magic of The Grateful Dead. Susie and I headed up to the stands as I positively quivered with excitement, drinking beer (drinking age in New York was 18), smoking, and waiting in the hot sun for what seemed like an eternity through the openers of New Riders of The Purple Sage and Willie Nelson (Waylon Jennings had cancelled). Finally, as promoter Jon Scher introduced the band members, truer words were never spoken, as he concluded with, “I daresay that every one of us is exactly where they want to be right now! Ladies and Gentlemen…The Grateful Dead!!” Then, as the unmistakable first notes of Jack Straw started streaming through the speakers, I stunned Susie and myself by calling the song, “JACK STRAW!”. Ladies and Gentlemen—Start your engines!

We danced on our seats as the music played the band, in what is now universally recognized as a stellar and iconic performance, and the beginning of the trip of my lifetime, many magical years ago. Next up… 1978 and onward.