Des Moines June 1974

Dateline: Iowa State Fairgrounds 1974 Only got to see the Grateful Dead perform once, but it was a magical experience. Thanks to a computer-savvy Deadhead daddy of a student, I now have a set of cds of that exact concert. What a strange and wonderful gift!

"My" concert was thirty-one years ago, so it's no wonder it has taken on mythic proportions in my memory. We got up mighty early in Lincoln, Nebraska to drive to Des Moines for the concert that started around noon and lasted until after sunset. I sat out under the maple tree listening to locusts in the dark of the predawn, waiting for the VW microbus to pick me up.

The concert started off with major speaker problems, but the sun broke out of an overcast sky just as it always does in Grateful Dead legends. Still, the first cd is a frustrating experience waiting for the technical adjustments. It just keeps getting better after that, beginning with "China Cat Sunflower", and on through the second and third discs.

Jerry Garcia died nearly ten years ago. My student's daddy probably wasn't even born on June sixteenth, 1974. The music transcends the years and generations. I am very grateful for the cds!