When I met the woman who would later become my wife, I was just 19 years old. I had a long, long ponytail. I delivered pizza.
In 1994 I was thin, carefree, and spent more time planning my next road trip than with silly "conventional" distractions like rent, gas, and cable TV.
I saw the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field that year. I saw Phish in Cincinnati and Louisville. I crashed a Phish show on my 20th birthday way up in Bethlehem, PA.
I ended that year with the same wife-to-be and two of my closest friends, by spending New Year's Eve in Amsterdam.
Those were heady days my friends and, now, if it's possible to have a mid-life crisis at 34, welcome to it's heart.
Maybe it starts with Phish. Could be Bonnaroo. It may be that having my brother living so much closer has a mutual bad influence. We've already caught the start of the Dead tour (as posted below) and now here's a rundown of the summer to be :
May 31 Phish@Fenway Boston, MA
My friend "Uncle Ted" scored the tickets up in the rightfield grandstand. My brother and I are flying up that morning. We get in at 11:30. We leave Boston at 5:00AM Monday. It's a whilwind, what Timmy calls a "Rockstar Vacation".
We're just going to RAWK! Should make for a pretty interesting return flight in any event.
June 9 Phish@Asheville Civic Center Asheville, NC
Hard tickets to score but I paid the scalpers. This will bring about some scorn in the -Head community. I absolutely do not care. Otis, Pauly, and my wife will be there too. Should be silly since it's the smallest venue on the Phish tour this year.
This is an old-school venue. I plan to act in a very stupid manner.
As soon as the show ends my wife and I will hop in the fully-loaded car and head to Charlotte for a few hours sleep before hooking up with my brother, his wife, and "Uncle Ted".
We'll be getting an RV.
June 10 Phish@Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, TN
We'll take that RV 4 hours down I-40 to Knoxville and hook up with a half-dozen more friends. We've got 12 seats for this one. Hopefully the Joker and TD will be there. Some other friends, both new and old will be using some of the 12 tickets my brother and I scored (all at face value) through various means.
My seats are fantastic. Lower level, Pageside.
After the show we'll load up the RV and hit a hotel just 6 miles away.
This will be the last clean bathroom for days.
June 11-14 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN
This is my fourth Bonnaroo. B and I went in 2002, 2004 and 2007. My brother and his wife will be with us for the third time. Uncle Ted, Matt, and Julie-Steakdoses are back for a second time.
It's awesome for a long list of reasons but my favorite are :
Phish is playing both Friday and Sunday nights.
Plus,
The Beastie Boys.
David Byrne
Bruce Sprinsteen and the E Street Band
Snoopy Dog
etc.
etc,
etc,
I can't wait.
August 15 Phish@Merriweather Post Pavillion Columbia, MD
I threw this in for good measure. I scored 4 tickets on the Fishman side in the lottery. My wife, my brother, sister-in-accodance-with-law, and I will have fun.
You know, because its the Phishes.
Now here are my concerns,
I'm not 19. I'm older, fatter, and more pampered. I do have actual responsibilities.
And kids.
I played in a decent frolf tournament Sunday and played well. Today my back and legs have been extremely sore. That makes sense. I competed for a full 11 hours.
You know, competed.
At standing, walking slowly, and throwning a frisbee.
Yikes. If that hurts now, I'm more than a little worried about the stamina required for a summer of '94.
We'll see how it goes.