I found the song "Estimated Prophet" worth more than one listen, and Bob Weir’s voice compelling. "Then we came back and we knew what the songs were about.” “Fortunately we had a chance to play three times onstage and it made a huge difference," Bob Weir once said. The audience was watching art in action a canvas that was freshly painted based on how they were feeling at the time, I'm guessing often with the use of mood altering substances. I learned that the band played songs differently each and every time, in their live shows. The band isn’t that good.” Looks like I owe that person an apology. He’s a very pleasant person so just smiled and commented “you’re right. My new friend group was apparently full of Deadheads and I even made out with one of them once- he had long blond hair and wore pastel colored tie-dyed shirts- outside of a dive bar on Sheffield.īefore I had taken the time to listen this week, I rudely said to a self-proclaimed Deadhead (I promise I did know know about this identification when our friendship organically sprouted up) “They’re not good,” and I laughed when I noticed dancing bears embroidered into his clothing. Thanks to my roommates and their crew, I finally got to know Ian Anderson, CCR, Van Morrison, the less well-known Americana of David and David, and a band that became one of my all time favorites, The Silos. I didn’t pay much attention, but the songs have stuck in my craw. The Dead occupied one of those slots on many a Saturday night as we danced around and pregamed before going to Hamilton’s on Broadway. I also lived with a bunch of people from Barrington for a year or two in the late 80s and our 6-CD multi disc player was always loaded up with their music. It seems I was subconsciously indoctrinated into the world of the Dead by many years of listening to WLS, The LOOP, and accidentally catching the Grateful Dead Hour on WXRT. I felt uplifted by the simple, bright, plucky sounds of the band as Apple fed me more. I was surprised to discover that, not only was I familiar with many of the other songs, I knew quite a few well enough to sing along with at least the chorus. I decided to pop the song "Truckin’" onto Apple Music to see what all the fuss is about. I’d rather be clubbing it up at Kaboom right here in the city.ĭead & Company is coming to Cubs Park soon and there’s a lot of buzz about it.
When groups of my peers packed up to go camping at Alpine Valley to “follow the Dead” I never had FOMO.
When people identified as Deadheads, I’d quickly write them off as potential friends - what could we possibly talk about? Tie-dye? I thought of them as a mediocre band with a boring cult following. Yet t he Grateful Dead never made sense to me. In the Rogers Park neighborhood where I grew up, music-loving hippyish intellects abounded there were many Jerry Garcia fans around during my formative years. Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds? And I too never much liked the Grateful Dead, or their unwashed legions of fans, though I was extraordinary fond of "Friend of the Devil." Enough prelude. Next week, I'm planning a five day run featuring songs about lawyers, for reasons which will be made plain. I never know what Caren is writing about until I read it on Friday, and sometimes odd synchronicities present themselves.