#zinestuff

A preview of both of my cards for @WitchHatTarot!! Had a lot of fun doing these!

So this was my trip to Texas and San Francisco. This was my 1st out of state Dead experience and it couldn’t have been cooler. I never thought too much of Texas dead till this past summer after watching Freaks and Geeks then connecting the tour dates mentioned in the show. It got me listening to a show from and The Summit in Huston from 7/2/81 and Manor Downs in Austin from 7/4/81 which got me searching deeper to find The Dead having played El Paso once on 11/23/73 and yes, They played "El Paso." So that got me onto Texas Dead. Low and behold when Dead & Company announced the Fall Tour dates I was bummed and thought me travelling out of state wouldn’t happen because I thought travelling took loads of money. Well you know what they say good things happen to good people and through the grace of Jerry I was able to hitch a ride and get a floor to sleep on every night of this 4 day extravaganza at the end of the semester. 

          I went to Texas because it was the closest option to my house and I could make it there in 3 hours by flight. So, I did the unthinkable and arrived with no tickets in Dallas and met up with @s0-many-roads , Matt & Lacey my traveling companions Trey and Matt are heads that got on the bus in the 80’s. Matt did 10 years on Dead Tour and Trey did 5. Trey’s 1st show was 10/21/88 which happened to be the Dead’s last time in Texas and he saw shows up until 95 and Matt’s 1st show was the Red Rocks run from 6/12-14/84 It seems like every show I go to I meet new people that alter the course of my life this time it was being able to meet up with my now good friends Joe, Liz and the guys from @Lotmart. Joe had followed me months ago and I decided to make these shows primarily to meet up with him and Trey who I had befriended via Tumblr as those who haven’t read my last zine that “Tumblr” was my real introduction to other heads. I walked onto Shakedown and tried to find other people that I knew and eventually met up with Joe, Aaron, and Shayne. Aaron and Shayne I had spent my birthday with at Shoreline the past summer to it was awesome to see my friends from California in the middle of lot in Dallas. I was freaking out looking for a ticket that wasn’t from a scalper low and behold I found someone who looked normal enough to be a head and was selling for face just my luck and $150 later I had a platinum seat, I got to my seat Liz had her seat right next to mine and before the show started we talked our dead history turns out she 1st saw the dead in Chicago from their 4 day run at the Auditorium on 6/29/76 She moved to Texas in 1980 to get her medical degree from Baylor and ended up seeing the shows in 81 that I mentioned earlier. Now on to the show I must say that of 6 Dead & Co shows I attended last year that was the most incredible night. I mean the vibes of the place were insane I mean we got the debut of Easy Answers a song by Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman “That was played and hated by a lot from Giant’s Stadium East Rutherford NJ, 6/5/93- 6/28/95 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills MI” I flipped it when I heard Bobby, John and Oteil going at it as I had been listening to a lot of 93-95 before fall tour to see what nuggets I could dig out from a large amount of sub par playing on those subsequent tours now back to the show I wanted a here comes sunshine also because from my friend Fred’s recommendation of listening to shows from 73 which he considers to be the best period of the dead, I got it to start the 2nd set I jumped for joy told liz why I was so happy to hear this then Scarlet Begonias >Fire on The Mountain >Eyes of The World. I was so high it was almost like I could float with each note then Drums>Space to really set the peak for everyone in that Arena that night Dear Prudence>The Wheel during Dear Prudence a disco ball came down and was projecting some of the craziest lights I had seen then heaviest Casey Jones I’d seen and let me tell you I’ve seen the who and Sabbath and Mayer rocked this one so hard I could feel it in my bones then Knockin’ on Heavens door for the encore and after the show we just sat there in our seats for what seemed like an hour discussing life, school and what we had just experienced. Then it was the ol’ trip to the hotel and try to get a few hours of sleep before we set down the road to Austin, I then spent the next 4 hours picking everyone in the car’s brains all the way to Austin and I’m so grateful to have been with the crew I traveled with. When we got to Austin it was already shakin’ on shakedown and I did the thing I had wanted to do on the trip which was eat a good burger so I went over to Arlo’s and had an amazing burger and mac n cheese. I finished my meal and went back to shakedown then low and behold I got a text from Liz asking if I had a ticket yet? I did not as I had done the dumb move and gotten a ticket I didn’t like and sold it back into the resale market and told her I had $100 if she had an extra she texted back her location and when I met her she miracled me my ticket, I then met her husband and some friends that had also come from Huston. I couldn’t believe it I actually got a miracle!!!! Like I’d always heard about people getting miracled into a show and I finally got one not even expecting it. This trip had been the ultimate experience of a lifetime and I hadn’t even gotten in yet that night. I was on cloud 9 and had the biggest smile imaginable I went in and got to my seat. I witnessed one of the weirdest things that night a lady in front of me was on her phone the whole time just on Facebook and in during that time I moved into her seat and started jamming then got my way down to the 200 section of the theatre and let loose for the 2nd set and wow it was on par with the 2nd night of the Hollywood Bowl show I had seen earlier that year, I caught my 2nd Dark Star. This show was just crazy I danced with some 40-60+ year old men and women. Then when St. Stephen and Morning Dew came I lost my stuff just absolutely lost it and started crying, I had that feeling of the craziest high this whole trip and it just all came to me right then and there in the Dew and the typical One More Saturday Night encore for it being Saturday night and the end. I came out of that show a new man it seems as it was also my 1st show completely sober. Something, God or whatever you wanna call your higher power had told me while tripping the night before that I should never drink again and I saw the Wharf Rats table at that Austin show for the 1st time when I went in, I knew everything was going to be alright and everything would flow and fall into place with the ongoing divorce and everything in my life I just had to listen to the music play and that I did. To end it I had a good veggie burrito at shakedown talked to my now good friends @Lotmart and went back to the hotel to get some sleep for my 9am flight out in what was 7 hours. Smoked a joint with my texas trippers and went off to bed. Woke up, said goodbye to the trip companions, caught my flight and all was good in the universe. 

my Ana piece for @woesofsupportzine