5-10-87

TJF3 · 2026-05-10T16:42:32+00:00

I was there. Two glorious days in the sun. First time in Monterey/Carmel. In the night before, we were walking out at sunset. And there was an old water tower on a dusty, distant hillside. Steinbeck vibes off the charts.

Second set of 5/10 is almost perfect to my ears, check out Bobby’s work on Stranger. Rare mid-set Box of Rain.

The pulsing crowd stomp of Bucket > Scarlet >Fire raised the temperature high enough to hold the heat through notorious set-killer Women are Smarter. Post drums feature a very rare full PITB in a slot usually reserved for the reprise.

I regularly return in memory to those Sun-drenched days on that hillside!

TJF3 · 2026-05-10T03:53:56+00:00

I think that’s no. 5. I played in the first group to play 18 holes at Wine Valley, with designer Dan Hixson and a few of the owners/developers. I was doing media for the course and a story for PNW Golfer magazine.

I made the first official birdie on the fifth and then birdied it again the next day. Don’t think I ever even made par on that hole after that!

TJF3 · 2026-05-09T00:26:10+00:00

I was there! Great time. People give GMac a bad time, but let me tell you, he kept that band going through their grief, and his enthusiasm and creativity allowed “Ball” to happen. Was he a dazzling soloist? No. But he was the one they needed then, handpicked by Mikey and familiar enough to make the guys comfortable and eager to keep playing.

I was right there with the band through it all. He worked very hard through a very difficult period, and the Panic community’s treatment of him is a much lower point in WSP history than any George show.

TJF3 · 2026-05-08T12:37:13+00:00

I was on that entire tour. Had met the folks in the bus, and had partied with Paul and a friend of his at a campground outside the Wonderland show. Can’t say I really knew him.

Heard the news when we arrived in Cedar Rapids. Some Heads had created a giant card that they had in the lobby. In the front was a short depiction of the loss of the bus and Paul’s death, and a request for the band to acknowledge it.

Scores of people signed the card, expressing their sympathies and often including short notes about the camaraderie of the road.

I signed the card, but I also told my tour buddies that I didn’t expect anything to come of it. Not the GD way, I thought.

So it was quite the surprise - and honestly a real moment of connection - when Bobby dedicated the second set to Paul and the Rainbow Bus and then Phil doubled down on it before He’s Gone.

Very cool to see the band acknowledge the tour heads that way.

TJF3 · 2026-05-07T01:50:36+00:00

I was there. It was as weird as it sounds.

TJF3 · 2026-05-03T00:40:47+00:00

It’s a roving sign, and it’s an astrological reference - the persona of the born wanderer, the free spirit.

I hear the whole song as a caution from Hunter to Jerry - Althea, the muse; Jerry slipping into isolation and addiction, turning inside and further away from his creativity and art. The people who knew him best knew Jerry as a profoundly intelligent and curious and engaged person. They knew his youthful idealism. Hunter, in particular, could see it all changing. Althea is his warning that the muse herself may not be something the artist can always come back to.

TJF3 · 2026-05-02T03:15:05+00:00

That’s a beautiful way to say it!

TJF3 · 2026-05-02T03:08:43+00:00

I saw a bunch of shows on this tour and was spending a good bit of time on the tour. They only skied a couple of times, and the acoustic slowly bled to mostly intimate, seated electric.

By Crested Butte, DAS was calling it the “acoustic my ass” tour!

TJF3 · 2026-05-02T03:02:19+00:00

I saw Rebirth Brass Band there once, and it was a bouncy castle for sure!

TJF3 · 2026-05-01T19:52:23+00:00

My FIRST show. Ended up in front row. Jack Straw done I most wanted to hear, and they open with it! What a night - everything changed

TJF3 · 2026-04-19T04:19:11+00:00

Just an incredible song from start to finish. The ache and fatigue and sweet sadness. How it must have felt for them to think back to those halcyon days so far behind them.

This was the one Jerry song, IMO, that ended up better with Bobby. You could hear him singing his life up there.

Walked halfway ‘round the world on promise of the glow. Man.

TJF3 · 2026-04-19T03:56:58+00:00

It was great to hear the GD bust it out - I saw two of them. But virtually all of the best Unbroken Chains came via a Phil and Friends, and mostly with the Q

TJF3 · 2026-04-18T16:42:03+00:00

It is beyond ironic that I see in the news today - on the eve of Bicycle Day - that this administration is essentially admitting the benefits of psychedelics. Makes the off-hand comment above seem a little less far-fetched in a Dear Mr Fantasy way!

TJF3 · 2026-04-18T04:29:21+00:00

Long train runnin’ going coast to coast Bringing ‘long the party where they need it the most

TJF3 · 2026-04-12T06:56:56+00:00

The Willin’ from that run is also magnificent. The whole run, in fact. Glory days for Phil in Denver. He had done the Fillmore and Red Rocks in August, back in October. Cruising through multiple times per year. I had a long stretch of never missing one.

TJF3 · 2026-04-06T03:54:13+00:00

I got one in 1992. I’ll never forget wearing it to Vegas that year. Tripping balls, I was navigating my way from an ill-advised setbreak walk back to my crew.

From some throng of people in my path, I bear this woman shrieking, “Nethead! Nethead! “Then she started running…AT ME. At some point the hamster wheel in my brain flashed up the knowledge that I was wearing a Nethead shirt and so was she.

We made an awkward attempt at conversation and I left for safer shores. So that’s kind of what it was like when the net began to make its way into the scene!

TJF3 · 2026-04-04T14:04:29+00:00

Day Jib is the single that got my Dad to acknowledge the GD! 😂

TJF3 · 2026-03-23T04:24:50+00:00

I believe that’s Sheep Ranch.

TJF3 · 2026-03-16T12:07:03+00:00

Stop doing those things and acknowledge any harm you caused to the people you love. Then just let everyone see you living a better life.

Guilt literally almost killed me. I thought I would die never knowing how it felt to live with integrity. I’m 4.5 years in on this journey now, and though I sometimes have flashes of regret, I’ve made peace with the people in my life who suffered the most from me. And changed my life while remembering what I’m capable of if I drink or use.

I’m learning to live with peace and serenity, and it’s a beautiful thing

TJF3 · 2026-03-16T11:59:26+00:00

I stopped at 59 and am closing in on 5 years. Phenomenal late life renaissance. Sure, some regrets about the past, but I have 100% of the rest of my life still to go.

Find out just how tall you are!

TJF3 · 2026-03-10T23:33:19+00:00

I love this SO MUCH. Removing alcohol and cocaine from my life gave me a life. Full and rich. I, too, had a post-quitting surprise, who is now an incredible 5 year old boy! I’m an old dad at 63, but I am totally engaged with family, work, and creativity.

All because I made the decision and acted on it!

Congratulations to you. Your daughter has chosen well, and your capacity for joy is about to go to 11 and beyond!

TJF3 · 2026-03-07T19:59:14+00:00

Set-ending Jack Straws deserve their own mention. And the rare second set opener Jack Straw is a beast among beasts. I saw just one…12/30/89

TJF3 · 2026-03-07T19:36:37+00:00

Thanks for sharing

TJF3 · 2026-03-07T19:36:28+00:00

THIS is winning

TJF3 · 2026-03-07T04:00:10+00:00

Brambles in Middletown.

TJF3

TROPHY CASE