Dominique and I found ourselves at the mercy of the thumb once again. I was confused. I felt strongly about making it back to Canada, although Jones Beach was also alluring. We decided to leave it up to Great Spirit. It was late and Darien Lake's lot was clearing out, so we made the agreement to either go back to Canada or, to head on down to Jones Beach.

Brian pulled over in a Mercedes Benz and stepped out with a big smile on his face. "Do you both have your licences?" Yes we do! We conferred with each other, and decided to hop in. Brian happily let me drive, because he'd managed to sneak three kinds of Scotch into the show, and you could tell it had taken the desired effect. He was all smiles. In the meantime, another girl, Candace had caught on to the scene, and soon we were all on the way to get gas.

At the gas station, I saw some Canadian friends. All of a sudden, my second-guessedness kicked in and I wanted to go back to Canada. Don't forget that it had been less than a week since Hemphry was detained, we had hitch-hiked back and now I was heading down past New York City for two more shows. My Grandmother and Cousin were back in Canada, while the Dead and my new-found lady-friend were in America. I'm so bad at making choices. I felt the weight of being charged with trafficking 8 lbs of Marijuana (roasted, salted hempseeds) and I was wondering to myself what it would take to make me "smarten up" as they say. At one point I told Brian I might be jumping ship. Canada was tugging at my heart. Unbeknownst to her, Dominique was also tugging. Her, along with Phil and Bobby, and Joan, Mickey, Billy, Jimmy, Rob, and Mark and all of the other family and tour kids tugged right back. Ultimately, the Dead are in me, so I was in for the ride.

I got to drive right off the bat. Mercedes Benz driver's seats are way comfy compared to Hemphry's. It felt pretty neat to be hurtling across New York State in this vehicle. We were going fast, we were comfy, but there were no tunes, so Brian had us all singing Bob Marley songs. That was fun. It felt good to hitching again. It was like taking another step of faith. I had $26 and only three boxes of papers to work with. It felt like a fresh adventure.

Dominique drove through twilight while the rest of us slept, and Brian took us into the city, going the final stretch. After a bit of mapquest inspired confusion and subsequent getting lost, we arrived on the lot at Jones Beach right on time. I wouldn't have made the drive in Hemphry, so this show really was a bonus. Being table-less, and having some news to share, I made a fake T.V. out of cardboard so I could tell people the Hemphry news, or they could hear a Poem. The response was good, and people were welcome to give donations, which some gladly did. Dominque and Candace and I were all on the hunt for that elusive "Extra".

While I was getting some drum lessons from the King of Africa, Dominique came over with tickets! Sweet! She ended up trading $45 and three necklaces for three tickets. I became immediately stoked!

Dominique and Candace went straight in, while I wandered around the lot for a little while longer so I could get something to eat. I ate some quesedillias, and meandered into the show as the acoustic set finished. D'oh.

The Tommy-He'll figure it out-Amphitheatre at Jones Beach is a very controlled setting to watch a show at. All seats are assigned and the aisles are patrolled by roving gangs of security. There's really no room for the people who just want to dance. That said, it's a pretty neat venue in that it's like a grandstand right on the water. The audience is seated in steeply tiered seating. Our seats were on the front row of the upperest level in the Phil zone. In front of us was the railing that kept us from falling the thirty or forty feet to the stairwell aisle beneath us. The stage was in front to the right and one of those big screens was directly in front of us. Our screen was showing the band close-ups, so we could see well. The breeze was coming in off the Ocean and as it was getting dark, the air was getting moist. It was a really nice and refreshing mist. The breeze was warm, and while some people were decked out in plastic raingear, we were feeling the water on our bodies. The wind would sweep across us and leave small droplets in random places.

Jerry Garcia had died Eight years earlier to the day, and we were all feeling it. The Dead opened the electric set with Shakedown Street, getting us all moving right off the bat. Playing in the Band spanned the set-break, showing us that the Dead are alive and well. I distinctly remember a Ramble On Rose that had everybody singing at the top of our lungs. We all were singing louder than the band. Our spot was pretty cool, being so high. From our seats, we could see everyone below us and it was fun to watch the crowd sway forth and back to the sweet music. After a rocking One More Saturday Night encore, they closed with a beautiful Ripple. As they began the song, the rain finally started to come down. It poured on us all, and when the show was over, so was the rain. Jerry's death had been properly observed.

Dominique and I had shared a super special show, and the songs were nice to dance to with each other. The night really had a solemn feeling to it. I think a lot of people were there to see the Dead for the first time since Jerry's passing. There was also the feeling of release to it. The Dead had toured all Summer long, and you could tell that they really had gelled. People were feeling nostalgic, and the weather was perfect. How do you say it? Pathetic fallacy?

We left the lot, aimlessly driving to a destination unknown. We just wanted to sleep. We ended up back at the beach. Dominique and I, not having planned on this extra trip, had no blanket and kept each other warm just lying in the sand. It was nice until we awoke shivering, and went back to the car for a couple more ZZZZ's.

Sunday, Aug. 9th

The second night is always the best, from all of my experiences at multi day shows. The crowd is more used to the venue. People have settled in. There's the whole day in the lot as opposed to having just arrived. All of these things seem to have an effect. Not to mention, the band (whichever band it is) usually pulls out all the stops for the second night. Of course tickets also seem harder to come by on the second night. I don't know why. This night was no exception.

While wandering around the lot, we found one ticket that cost $45. I bought it and immediately gave it to Dominique, which was the deal. She got my ticket for me the night before, so now it was my turn.

I still needed a ticket, and now I was fresh out of coin. Hmmmnn, what's a head to do? "Go to the Limousines, because people win tickets from a radio station and they sometimes have an extra" had been some advice from a kind mother of some random folks we'd met in the Catskills a few weeks earlier. Well, the limos turned up no extras.

I walked with my box of Papers out, making trades for basically anything for a pack. It usually works out well. We continued wandering around in the VIP section, Just kind of poking around to see what Spirit would turn up. After being led down one aisle of cars, I saw a whole bunch of pastries and goodies in the back of somebody's truck. "Anybody want to trade a pastry for a pack of papers?" It was an automatic response to my sweet tooth kicking in. They kind of mis-understood me, and instead asked if we were hungry. Looking up, I saw that they had quite a spread. Hmmn. Being a person who seldomly eats meat, I answered with a tentative "kinda". "Come on over and a fill up a plate." "All this food's being thrown out anyways" "We got vegetarian lasagne, some Veggie Tai noodles, some salad." They had meatballs, some chicken, all kinds of stuff. It was some kind of catering that they'd gotten. We sat down on their lawnchairs, and one dude even handed me a beer. Boy, had things just changed for the better. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I got into that eggplant parm lasagne. It was soo good. Dominique and I filled our bellies while we talked to these Westchester County fellows. They were super nice to share all their food and space. We told them how we'd hitch-hiked from New Brunswick after the whole van-border ordeal, and they were kind of flabbergasted. The whole story was a bit of a mind-blower for them. It was a good exchange of perspective and food and papers and stickers. They liked the van.

Well, instead of helping them throw out the food, we helped by packing it all up and removing it from the VIP lot. We carried the metal trays quite a ways, over to the regular-folk's gate. Not only could this food feed a bunch of people, but I recognized it as a good chance to get a ticket. The new Spiel; All you can eat for a ticket, or for Free! "Food not Bombs!" "Free gourmet food!" I love scoring food destined to the landfill and feeding people with it. I feel a real sense of fulfillment in saving good food. Food Not Bombs rocks!

People couldn't believe the spread before them. Most just laughed or smiled as they walked by, while others happily dove into the food. Dominique was periodically off looking for a ticket, and of course I had my finger up for a miracle. One sweet Mamma came by and started making plates for five kids who were hungry. She asked if it was O.K. to make up some plates for them, and of course it was. Later she whispered to me that these children's parents were too busy shooting up to feed their kids. That sucks.

They guy who miracled me wasn't even hungry. Go figure? I kind of cleaned up, leaving the food to feed people on its own. There were people around who were hip to the free food scene, so I'm sure it all took care of itself. The trash was gone by the time the show was over. Oh, did I mention the peach cobbler and the apple crumble? Both were delicious by the way?

The show was fun. We saw a few songs from the acoustic set, and it was nice. One of my first Dead recordings was a copy of Reckoning, and I'd always wanted to see them. Acoustic Dead was the icing on a Summer of a cake.

Dominique's and my ticket were separate, but we found some seats that accommodated us until set break. We went down to the walkway behind the soundboard, and spent the break doing High-Fives for World Peace. People will walk out of their way to High-Five for World Peace. It's a wonderful way to spend time with a bunch of people. It's also fun to bring that sense of greater good to a show. Maybe people smile and maybe people are happy for a hand-slap, and maybe it actually makes people think for a second about World Peace and wonder what we can do to bring that about. Maybe the sounds of our voices and the clap of the hand-slap reverberate through space and time for eternity. Maybe some people know that World Peace would require America and the rest of the First World to concede to the fact that we have a lot in a world where there is increasingly less. Maybe that's why the occasional dude will look, think twice and keep on walking. Maybe he's too heavily invested in Wall Street to actually want World Peace. Maybe his company makes ammunition, or laser scopes or prepares the ready to eat meals that they pass off to the Marines as food. Whatever the reason, some people do actually decline High-Fives for World Peace. C'est La Vie. And the crowd streams by. "High Five for World Peace!"

After bouncing around the aisles for a while, we found a spot toward the top of the first level. Right behind us was the place where everyone was dancing and it was soooo fun! I found the heads! It was the spot where all the crazy dancers and spinners were. Ooh, what a great place to end up on the last nigh of Summer Tour. I can't remember what was playing, but soon The Other One showed up, and I was spinning really fast. There were other spinners and I think I felt really comfortable there. I'm reminded of a book by Douglas Copeland called Postcards from the Dead (It's not about the Dead per se, but there is a section about a Dead show in it), which I read even before I heard the Dead. It always intrigued me, the whole spinning thing, and there I was feeling right at home. Lady with a Fan started and we were all giddy, or at least I was. I Love Terrapin, and being right there amongst people I'd seen all around that Summer was sooo good. Along came Lovelight with Joan ripping it up. "Oh Baby please, Turn on Your Lovelight" I would pop down three rows and visit Dominique every now and then, who was quite content where she was. She's more into absorbing the show and watching them. She's usually up close, but this was a pretty tight venue so here we were. My eyes are usually shut, or something so I don't really care where I end up, although I should say that I often try to get real close, because that's where I feel it. I do like making eye-contact when I can. But tonight it was all about getting down with the Brothers and Sisters up in the Spinning section.

Dominique pointed out at the beginning of the encore, how she likes it when they talk to each other to decide what to play right then and there. All of a sudden we knew. "Red and White, Blue Suede shoes, I'm Uncle Sam, How do ya do?" It was the U.S. Blues, the Dead's closest thing to an anti-war song. How about that? Maybe somebody High-Fived Bobby for World Peace or something. Anywho, it felt good to have been there, and to know the magic is still alive. It was fun to rock out to that, and then they doubled it up with A Touch of Grey. I will Survive, do do do do dado I will Get Byyyyyy, I will Survive.

I'd met Jen, a fellow Canuck, who I knew from some good times at Frontier Town, and around. They could give us a ride back to Dominique's car, so all was well. We rode in the back of a pickup, doing about a hundred miles an hour and got dropped off near Woodstock to pick up Dominique's Red car. I say near, because we actually went too far, and got dropped off at a rest stop. The hitch back to the car was a piece of cake, and it wasn't long before we found ourselves back in Canada. Yay Canada, and Yay Americans, who contrary to popular belief, aren't all gun-toting war-mongers. In fact many are quite nice. At least that was my experience.

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