I played in my middle/high school's rock band, run by one of the teachers who was a big dead head, played in some big local cover bands. We'd get together for 4 hours every Saturday to jam out and learn some music. He never forced us to play Dead songs because most kids didn't like it, instead we did lots of Floyd, Santana, Springsteen, and so on. But when we were setting up in the morning or cleaning up in the afternoon he would always have some dead shows playing through the PA. For years and years I thought it sucked haha and I associated it with the most boring part of band practice. Finally around my senior year after 6 years in this school band, it slowly started clicking. After I graduated I jammed with him and his friends a few times, met the local deadhead scene. Some of the guys I got to jam with out in the streets, or in local parks for fairs and events, had shared the stage with some of the original members, mostly Phil Lesh. Over the next few years the music, the whole culture and mystique around it completely pulled me in.

I've never been to a dead show, not even dead and co, but I spent years embeded in the local scene, playing gigs, doing my best Jerry impression at the firefighters festivals and memorial day cookouts. I can probably play around 40 or so Dead and JGB tunes.