The Bus Came By...

The day was July 18th, 1990. I believe it was a Sunday. This is THE day of my life...where everything changed. Deer Creek already had a bit of a reputation, but after this show, not only would it remain the greatest venue to see The Dead, but many others as well. It had the best camping. The people were friendly as hell that owned the land around there (maybe they had no clue who the Dead were).

They just opened up their land and let us park, camp, party into the night - you name it, they loved it. As a matter of fact - the town of Noblesville, IN economy today probably is centered around those few days in July. The Subway built a couples years later - their employees would actually wore tie-die's. Just awesome. They loved the Deadheads. The previous year may have been the bands first performance here, but as I said, this show set the tone for excellence. And since this Deer Creek, it has remained amongst the heads-of-any-sort - the place to be.

I still have the setlist memorized....But before I get ahead of myself, let me rewind a bit. For the road trip/lot is half the story. It was about a three hour drive from where we were so we left early in the morning. This was a time before the internet really. It was in it's fetal stages at best, and to get any infomation about what was going on, "on tour", you had to be there, as they say. I must have listened to that Casey's '72 show 100 times over.

I bought American Beauty, Blues for Allah, Terrapin Station and Skeletons in the Closet (of course - who didn't own that) that past year as well. Just by listening to those got me well acquainted, or so I thought, with the Dead. Little did I know I was about to get my socks knocked off. I had my favorites, and Mike let me take a look at his other shows as well from time to time.

Mike gave me a copy of Barton Hall '77 to kickstart the weeekend. This show too became another staple in my future trading. This show was the soundtrack of that road trip. The second set speaks for itself as the St. Stephen>NFA>St. Stephen>Morning Dew still gives for goosebumps to this day. A definite must have of any collector.

We stopped off and got bread and cheese, some garlic season-salt, some water, and soda for the lot. We did have some beers that we swiped from our parents but nothing to write home about. For we were told there would be plenty to buy there in the lot. I sure didn't know what he meant at the time, for I just nodded, chipped in when I needed, and enjoyed the ride...to Noblesville.

By the time that Barton '77 show had ended, we were already backed up to the traffic into the Lot. I had never seen such a site. People with their fingers up, smiling, walking all about. Those of you that have been there know what I mean. We parked, set up our area, got to know the people around us - shared stories, etc. We made the best damned grilled cheese ever. Mike sold them all afternoon for some cash - that we used for beer and other "entertainment". "This was the way of the Deadheads", I remember him saying. Everyone just sort of sold something to pay for something else. It was a small economy in and of itself. For this was a different scene than what I saw lust a year ago.

And this was what it was like on tour. Life seemed so simple. Almost, like a dream. I felt at home.

Up Next...And I Got On.