Life lessons on two wheels to the tunes of the
Grateful Dead
Robert Hall Weir, né Parber,
October 16, 1947 – January 10, 2026
Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine.
I first saw Bob Weir on October 19, 1974 with the Grateful Dead at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. I last saw Bob Weir on June 14, 2024 as a member of Dead & Company at The Sphere in Las Vegas. Over the course of almost 50 years, it was my privilege to see Bobby perform countless times as a member of the Grateful Dead, Kingfish, Ratdog, the Other Ones, The Dead, Furthur, Dead & Company, the Weir Robinson & Greene Acoustic Trio, and probably others that I have failed to remember.
Other Posts
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 1 – December 31, 1978
The storyteller makes no choice
The Grateful Dead were famous for their New Year’s shows, and played twenty-one times at the stroke of midnight on December 31, at six different venues, all in the Bay Area. Six of those shows took place at the Winterland Ballroom, an erstwhile ice skating rink which became a storied rock music venue with a capacity of some 5000. Sadly, Winterland was shuttered in 1979, but not until one final concert had taken place. For reasons ranging from its eight-hour length, to the line-up that included the Blues Brothers and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, to the almost-six-hour DVD – The Closing of Winterland – that was made to commemorate the event, this was easily the most famous of the Dead’s New Year’s shows, and the Deadhead Cyclist’s choice for T.W.I.G.D.H., as well as the best New Year’s Eve show of all time.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 31 - July 31, 1974
All I leave behind me
Each year as the calendar turns from July to August, Deadheads are confronted with both Jerry Garcia’s birthday (August 1) and the anniversary of his death, in 1995 (August 8). This one week period is commonly referred to as the “Days Between,” after a song by the same name that was written by Garcia and his legendary songwriting partner, Robert Hunter. The tune was to have been recorded for a studio album that the band began working on in ’92, that was never finished.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 23 - June 7, 1977
I will not forgive you
June 7, 1977 was my sixth Grateful Dead concert. But it wasn’t supposed to be. After touring through the East and Midwest, the band was scheduled to play three shows at their home venue, Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, June 7, 8 and 9, to finish off their now-famous Spring ’77 tour. My newly fellow Deadhead sister, Janet, and I had already pocketed tickets for the June 9 show, but during the afternoon of June 7, as we were both working in a health food store in Santa Cruz, one thought began to preoccupy my brain: The Dead are playing tonight at Winterland. The Dead are playing…TONIGHT…just 90 minutes from here. After an hour or so, thought morphed into compulsion.
All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo