Brings back a flood of memories. It's odd and kind of cool how music can stir old memories. Over the past few months I've been slowly digging through my collection of bootleg recordings and concert memorabilia. Well, the other day I finally made it to the Grateful Dead box, knowing that I was in store for some more sweet memories of days past. The first tape I pulled out of the box was from Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin, July 17th 1989. This night was likely one of the best Dead shows I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. Here's some video from the opening, and from the ending of the show.





The goodness continued, unabated, for another two nights. Many Dead fans felt that this night was the beginning of the end for the band, "Downhill From Here" they called it, which is the title of the DVD this video is pulled from. An apt name for the story I'm going to tell, at least for my friend, Jack; for me it was more of a major marker in my life, a sort of "before the flood" thing.

It was a fun trip up to America's Jerryland that summer, I was there with my best friend, Jack. In hindsight, I was grateful (pardon pun) that I took this trip with Jack because he didn't live to see another July. Come this July 1st, he will have been gone for 21 years. It was basically because of knowing Jack that I developed such an avid interest in music, art, and food/cooking; the man was wildly talented in all three disciplines. After so many years, the scars from Jack's untimely passing have healed quite nicely; though they can still be painful from time to time. I am a better and more well rounded person for having known him, and a better person because of the many ways his death changed me and my outlook on life. The inscription on his tombstone is from "We Bid You Goodnight." "Lay down my dear brother, lay down and take your rest..."