truckin, on the open road

I have always wanted to see the Grateful Dead

     I think it was 1995....at least it is for this story.
     A bunch of us were heading down to West Virginia (cue the banjos) for a rafting trip.
     Someplace in Indiana, or Ohio, we saw Deadheads on their way to a concert....maybe in Columbus, Ohio.  That doesn't matter.  (Then why bring it up? you ask.)
     The band had just finished a Solder Field. (The Deadheads might even had been on their way home from the Chicago concert, which might have been the last on their tour that year.)
     Anyway, I said to myself:  You have to see the Dead in concert. Live.  Join the carnival.  Live.  (Note:  this word had two pronounciations, one spelling.  I used both pronounciations.  So I did not save live, live.  I said live, live.  OK?)
     Jerry Garcia died a week or two after that.
     I do listen to a couple of Dead CDs, but I have always regretted not seeing them live....except for Jerry.  I am too late for that.  (Although I am not to late to eat Cherry Garcia ice cream from Ben and Jerry.)
     Tickets went on sale for the three day Dead weekend and were gone in less than a minute.  Three shows, 60 thousand tickets.  Sold.
     I looked at Stub Hub and another second market site.  There are tickets available.  $170 for an obstructed view seat.  That was the cheapest I found.  Some tickets are up to $700 for one.  Others are rumored to be even higher.  I read one article that said a 3 day pass was going for $10,000.
     Now, I was never a Deadhead.  But I do know that most of them could not afford, and would not pay, that much money for a ticket.
     They'd ask for a miracle.....but I think miracles will be in short supply this weekend.
     This is their last tour and it is near the end of an age for rock.  Jagger is 72 in July.  Bob Weir has to be in his 70s.  Bob Dylan has to be close.  Paul McCartney is like 74 or something.
     I was fortunate to see Chuck Berry last year with my friend Dan.  Chuck is in his upper 80s and can still play a guitar, but he does get a little confused.  He can still rock, just a little slower.
     The artists of my generation, and maybe yours, are getting old, just like the rest of us.
     There were more gray hairs than long hairs at the Stones last week.....more canes and walkers than joints......you get the drift.
     Still, it would have been pretty cool to see the Dead when Jerry was with them and miracles were still possible.
     And affordable.