On The Road Again

As I am packing up the backpack and getting ready to head out for tonight’s show I am thinking back to all the other shows we have been to. I am sure as we sit on the train today heading for NY the conversation will be about all the memories.  Remembering all the different cities and shows we been to along with the different friends we went with. 1991 RFK as the sunset right as the second set started opening with Help, Slip, Frank, we thought that was great until we got to hear our first Dark Star. Wow what a night. 
Then in 1993 finally got to hear Dark Star in Philly.

Our road trip to Madison Square Garden with no money and lots of bars to party in was another one for the books. We had to hit the mac machine many times that night. 

One of my favorites was City Island, Harrisburg 1984, outside on the lawn. 
We had so many great shows at the Spectrum. My first show was August 30, 1980. I had just started dating my now husband, George who was the Dead head. He told me we were going to go see the Dead which at the time I really never listened to. The problem was we had no tickets but he took his brother and me anyway. The first stop was the ticket office at Sears in hopes of a miracle, but the show was sold out.  When we got to the spectrum, George took off for a bit and came back asked us for all our money, took the cooler full of beer and disappeared again returning with 3 tickets. Price of tickets $8.00 each. 

  By the time the second set opened with Scarlet- Fire I was hooked. Since then we have been to pretty much seen every show in Philadelphia.  I think we missed 2, almost 3 but at the last minute we decided once again to go without tickets. It was in 1988 they were playing 4 nights at the spectrum we had tickets for only 3. It was a Friday night and we just couldn’t stay home. So on the way to the show George was hanging out the window of the car while driving along the Schuylkill expressway with one finger in the air. A car pulled up yelling they had tickets. As I am doing 45 down the expressway and trying not to hit anyone they made the ticket money exchange right there in the middle of the expressway.

  That goes in the record book for me. Ticket price $18.00, we paid $20.00 each there was no making change.

  One of my very favorite nights happened 9-22-1987. The concert was great ,Encore Baby Blue then Spencer Davis came out playing – Adams family into Cassidy (one of my favorite songs) –two soldiers jam. That in itself was great more than one song Encore. After the show we decided to head over the Four Seasons we heard they stay. Again not much money and drinks were very expensive for our pockets but none the less we managed to have a few but had to tap MAC 3 times before leaving. There is nothing like getting a bill and having to walk down the street to get money out of the machine to be able to pay for it.  I get the brilliant idea to call their rooms on the house phones and it worked. I talked to Phil at first he thought I was his wife Jill. Then we had a nice long conversation with Bill Kreutzmann. What a night.

  Years later when we weren’t running to MAC all the time we stayed at the Four Season while they were in Philly. We got to meet Bobby. In fact I sat down and had a beer with him, he even gave George his phone number to where to reach him. 

  I can sit here all day and reminisce so many stories but I do have to get a shake on it, train to catch.  New York here we come. Can’t wait until 7:30.

Set List  August 30. 1980 

My first show

Feel Like A Stranger

 Peggy-O

 Cassidy

Friend Of The Devil

 Minglewood Blues

Cold Rain & Snow-> Looks Like Rain

Easy To Love You

 Althea

Jack Straw

Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, CC Rider-> Ramble On Rose, Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> Not Fade Away-> Black Peter-> Sugar Magnolia

 More Saturday Night

Revel

Atlantic City newest hotel/casino is finally open and it certainly is a place to revel in luxury. The Revel is a 20 acre beachfront casino that lives up to its name. We went Friday night and again on Saturday to see what all we missed the night before. The place offers something for everyone with its 10 pools, 14 restaurants, 3 entertainment venues, 2 nightclubs, 1 day club, shopping, and a huge gaming floor. 

 

A couple of fun facts:

 The Revel has a 47 story hotel tower that is now the tallest in Atlantic City and the second tallest in the state of New Jersey. Not sure what is the tallest so if anyone knows let me know. 

There is a 2-acre rooftop deck with pools, cabanas, fire pits, and the sky garden that has over 30,000 live trees & plants. 

 There are all sorts of interesting places to sit and relax.

There are 1898 guest rooms and suites all with ocean views. I did not see any of the room but did look up the rates and they aren’t that bad. Rates start at $239.00 for a standard ocean view room. Jr. Ocean suites start $359.00 and the one bedroom suites with a separate living room & lounge are $479.00

The entire place is smoke-free which is really nice. I believe there is an area off one of the 2 nightclubs you can smoke on the outside rooftop but that’s it.

We did not see the shopping area which will debut Memorial Day weekend.




Not all the restaurants are open. We found 2 restaurants we are definitely going to try, Amanda an authentic Spanish tapas bar that has wonderful views of the beach & ocean. The other, Mussel Bar, an old world Belgian pub with over 200 beers and a great looking menu.

Looking forward to a return trip.