The Grateful Dead have been around forever, it seems.\u00a0 I’ve heard their name since the sixties, but can’t say I was ever a fan.\u00a0 I was more into beach music and Motown.\u00a0 Loved the Beatles, Four Seasons, Supremes and Carpenters.<\/p>\n
From the albums I noted in George’s apartment back in the eighties when we started dating, his tastes were quite different:\u00a0 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Riders of the Purple Sage, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan and yes, the Grateful Dead.\u00a0 This music, what I knew of it, seemed rough and earthy to me, conjuring images of drugs, alcohol and endless sex.<\/p>\n
Far removed from the safe music I favored.<\/p>\n
I will confess that I went to a Jimi Hendrix concert when I was in ninth grade, at the insistence of a rather unconventional guy I was dating at the time.\u00a0 I remember the sickening sweet smell wafting through the crowd as we made our way into the arena, and Jimi, playing a guitar with his teeth, then smashing it against the stage and throwing pieces to the screaming crowd.<\/p>\n
My date informed me that I was smelling marijuana.\u00a0 Wonderful.<\/p>\n
Being a musician myself, I was impressed that it was even possible to play a guitar with teeth, but heartbroken to see an instrument needlessly destroyed.<\/p>\n
Did I fit in with that crowd?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 And I became more determined not to fit in after attending the concert.<\/p>\n
But here we are, in 2014.\u00a0 George and I are driving to the local vineyard to buy a couple bottles of wine.\u00a0 I suddenly become aware of the music George is playing.\u00a0 It sounds like old sixties\/seventies rock music, voices slightly off-key.\u00a0 Then, I am struck by the words themselves.<\/p>\n
Please don’t murder me<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I confirm with George what is actually being said, the words seem so unlikely for a song.<\/p>\n
“Who is that?” I finally ask.<\/p>\n
“The Grateful Dead.”<\/p>\n
And I realize I have never heard them before in my life.<\/p>\n
How is that even possible?<\/p>\n
I am fifty-nine.<\/p>\n
Old.<\/p>\n
I ask why George has never played a Grateful Dead album in our home during the almost thirty years we’ve been married.<\/p>\n
He tells me he has.<\/p>\n
I don’t remember.<\/p>\n
Either I’ve been horribly sheltered my entire life or my memory is gone.<\/p>\n
My brain–fried by a singular exposure to marijuana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Grateful Dead have been around forever, it seems.\u00a0 I’ve heard their name since the sixties, but can’t say I was ever a fan.\u00a0 I was more into beach music and Motown.\u00a0 Loved the Beatles, Four Seasons, Supremes and Carpenters. From the albums I noted in George’s apartment back in the eighties when we started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldkaren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}