Grace Eldredge

[Grace Eldredge]

I have siblings who are a decade older than I am. Since they were born in the 60’s, they had the advantage of being exposed to some of the best music of our time. I remember hearing the Grateful Dead from my brother’s huge speakers that let everyone in the neighborhood know he was listening to the Grateful Dead. In 1985, when the Grateful Dead played in Portland, Maine, at the Cumberland County Civic Center, I remember my mom and I dropping my sister off outside the show. It was pouring rain, so the streets were sprinkled with bright rain ponchos. My sister would go off to see shows. I was only a young kid, so I was unable to join. I was so curious why the Dead drew such an enormous fan base. In middle school, friends had older siblings too that went to Dead shows. My 6th-grade math teacher even called those siblings Deadheads. He talked about them as if they were a cult. My Freshman year in high school was the year “In the Dark” came out. It got huge radio play. Our local radio station, WBLM, aired live Dead shows, and I used to listen to them and record them on my tape deck. In the early Fall of 1989 (9-13-1989), I saw Jerry Garcia play at the Seashore Performing Arts Center in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I fell in love. The moon was full, and Jerry swooned me with his melodies and positive energy. I drank the Grateful Dead Koolaid at my first Dead show at Foxborough Stadium, July 14, 1990. I’ll never forget the movie screen’s images that played some crazy stuff during “Throwing Stones”. Then Space. This show was the first time I truly felt so small in such a big world. Within this world I was discovering, I felt safe amongst the controlled chaos. It changed how I saw the world.