Trey after a decade

 It is 5:30 on a balmy Santa Monica Sunday afternoon.  I was out walking again - as usual - and find that there truly is a peaceful, easy feeling, casually walking around here - at home, after 3 plus decades as world travelers and 22 months of learning to adjust (sometimes, quite painfully) to both a brand new culture and each other, now that our working past is no more.

Ten years ago, the end of June, 2015, we flew, separately to San Francisco for the final Grateful Dead (configuration) with Trey Anastasio coming in for the Jerry Garcia role.  It was as memorable as it gets - while I am not sure how those five days in San Francisco impacted Katherine, I knew then that I would have fond remembrances all my life.

299,000+ joined me in Golden Gate Park in 1991 for the concert/wake in memory of Bill Graham, who died in a helicopter crash........along with the 'death' of my China veterinary pharmaceutical venture.   The thought of another three days of concerts in the park (starting at $635 - not as stratospheric as it could have been) as an octogenarian was not my proverbial cup of tea but streaming video works for me and Trey Anastasio who played with the Dead in 2015, is just ending his 90 minute, 'introductory' set.   What a great prelude to tonight's concert.  How nice to know that I go back to the 'originals' with Pigpen as the primary lead vocalist.....

I 'discovered' the Grateful Dead during the middle weekend of my two-week Army Reserves summer camp, in 1967 at Sharpe Army Depot in Stockton, CA.  I got my introduction to both the Dead and LSD that weekend and found that having absolutely no one to talk with about my weekend experiences during that second summer week of  being in uniform for my annual active duty commitment.  Who would ever anticipate that Dead music became my music for all these years?

The 1983 Dead concert at San Francisco Civic Auditorium is memorable for only one reason:  I purchased my Dead baseball cap that night.....and it still is the ONLY Grateful Dead cap I have ever had - I wore it during my morning walk, today.

I remember an opera and a concert in 1988.  Two rows in front of me - two seats to my right - sat Jerry Garcia in the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. I had done some tax audit work that involved the band and while I did not work directly with Garcia, we did know one another and we did share a joint between acts - no, I do not recall which opera it was..........but then, two nights later, I was backstage in Oakland for the Dead's next concert......and a couple of months later, in 1989, I was also backstage at another Dead concert - in Paris.

Bill Graham died in a Halloween night helicopter crash leaving Concord Pavilion in 1991.  That, in essence, was the end of my veterinary pharmaceutical project - one doesn't plan for the death of one's financial investment sources - it was a horrible reality to face but at least I had taxation as a profession to fall back upon.  350,000 poured into Golden Gate Park for a memorial concert put on by the Dead and other San Francisco-based rock groups.   For me it was a wake, with this 'confirmation' that my US life was really over.

24 years later - end of June, 2015:  The Grateful Dead were playing 3 shows in Santa Clara and a week later 3 shows in Chicago - and that was going to be it for the Grateful Dead.  I had three bladder cancer surgeries and in July would be starting immunotherapy (BCG treatment) - not knowing what my future would be, Katherine and I spent some money, going 'first cabin' for 5 days in San Francisco for the three concerts plus........I wrote about it in my book - it was one great time!

No, I am now too old to face the rigors of an all day outing to a rock concert - or 3 rock concerts.....going to San Francisco for this weekend was never a consideration.  But buying live stream for the show was and I watched on my 11" computer screen - adequate for the situation.   

Tickets posted 6pm start.  The show went on at 6:30 - first set was an hour.  There was a half-hour intermission followed by a 2 hour second set.  I was standing and (sort of) boogieing for the last hour of the second set.  Add to that the Trey Anastasio Band's 90 minute set which began earlier at 4:15pm, I cannot complain about 4-1/2 hours of music that was meaningful to me..........and Trey joined Dead & Co later for both Scarlet Begonias and Fire on the Mountain...........