[Kennay]

First Installment: I was in a pretty bad space in 83. Too much speed, coke, drink, weed and hallucinogians. But I also had one of the absolute best days of my life that year too. A day that forever changed my life. Roseland was the one and only time I ever got on line the morning of the show. My friend and I were 5th and 6th. We bought some tall-boys and had a nice time talking to the other folks on line around us. Joints were shared. Tales were told. It was alot of fun! Around 6 o`clock the doses came. Nice blotter. Not the speedy shit that was going around NYC back then. Perfect dosage. Not too strong. Not too weak. For once I was`nt worried about if I`d taken enough for the show. I`d usually end up taking way too much and not sleeping for 2 days after. This dose came on right away and I felt way high enough.

[astroman99]

Saw both those JGB shows...crowded , but good shows, nice walk to my parents after the show, don't remember much... but it was a good time.

[Kennay]

Saw both those JGB shows...crowded , but good shows, nice walk to my parents after the show, don't remember much... but it was a good time.

Absolutely! Great time in the parking lot after the show too!
Installment 2: We got into the show and had our pick of anywhere we wanted to stand. We choose just a little back and center of Jerry`s mike. From what I recall the stage seemed really low. Like 3 feet up. Perfect! I`ve never experienced a more pleasant sound than what came out of Jerry`s guitar that night. Even his MXR Distro+ with feedback just wrapped itself around my ears like a warm fuzzy blanket. I don`t remember many of the songs he played that nite. But a cool thing kept happening thru-out the show. He kept on making eye contact with me and riffing off my energy. He was playing me!

I`d first read about this concept in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests. The bus was rolling thru NYC and Kesey was on top playing flute. He was looking at people and playing the energy they were putting out. For example, they passed a woman who was nervously rushing so he played fast staccato notes to mimic what she was putting out. I`d had this experience with JG before at Ventura. I was about 30 rows back staring at his fingerboard when he made a motion with his guitar that shifted my gaze. He was looking right at me! I felt my truest feelings rise from my toes to my eyes. I felt afraid, unworthy and world-weary. He frowned, farted out a note or two that reflected my energy and did that quick little raised eye-brow thing over his glasses and looked away. I wanted him to try me again when I was ready but the universe tells no lies. You can`t prepare for that kind of truth. It just is. Never looked my way again those 2 shows.

[tigerstrat]

5/31 certainly smoked brains ... 6/1 a little less so

[mttourpro]

I'll never forget at Richfield 9-4-91 (Killer Scarlet>Fire BTW)...me and my buddy are 3 rows back, EXTREMELY high and dancin our asses off. For some reason very few other people were standing up and dancing. All of the sudden, my buddy just leaves and a little while later another friend of mine comes to his seat....I ask what's up and he says my buddy gave him his stub because he couldn't hang up there anymore because Jerry was staring at him too much. He later said he thought Jerry was scolding him!
I've definitely had Jerry look my way a few times too---thankfully I never felt "scolded" but always thought he was simply amused at me dancing.

[NashvilleMike]

1989 Greeks, I was 10 feet in front of Jerry and during the first set, between 2 songs, when a lot of people were sitting down, and it was still daylight, and it was my first time at the greek, I stood up and waved real big and yelled "Hi Jerry!"...he looked over his glasses and grinned at me and that was one of the best days of my life.

We need a thread called "Jerry looked at me" or "Brush with greatness" something like that...

[Chuckles]

Bobby spat on me once...

[bucketorain]

buckey 91, I was about 10 ft from Jerry, He was lookng right at me when he was signing Ruben, and his smile while looking at me was one that I never seen before, just as if he was saying, "here you go, sorry it took so long to fill your request". The funny thing was that out of all the songs I wanted to hear that I haven't heard live, that was the one.

After that I had to move becasue I think some big bikker dude was going to kick my ass for looking at his girl...

[Kennay]

All of the sudden, my buddy just leaves and a little while later another friend of mine comes to his seat....I ask what's up and he says my buddy gave him his stub because he couldn't hang up there anymore because Jerry was staring at him too much. He later said he thought Jerry was scolding him!

Yes Yes Yes! During Gomorrah I was staring at his fingerboard again and he made that same motion that lifted my gaze to his face. He looked like God would look if he had taken a human form and was angry. Just glaring at me. Scolding me for letting myself slip so far down. I was reminded of The Ten Commandments when Moses went up the mountain a fairly young man and came back with grey hair. Jerry`s hair seemed so grey at 40. I hung in there and took his scowl the best I could. For the rest of the show we were smiling at each other. Just beaming! I`ve never felt so high in my life with me smiling and him smiling back. It`s like we were taking each other to a higher space everytime we made contact.