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by Stew Sallo, author of “The Deadhead Cyclist.”
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 8 - February 19, 1973
Smiling on a cloudy day
Jerry Garcia was repeatedly in trouble for skipping classes, and was discharged from the U.S. Army after repeatedly going A.W.O.L.; Bob Weir was expelled from nearly every school he attended; and I was suspended for refusing to interrupt a marching band practice I was leading when then-Governor Ronald Reagan visited my high school in Anaheim, California. The common threads running between the three of us are a rebellious attitude towards authority, intertwined with having endured a series of punishments for merely following the well-known Shakespearean principle (as stated by Polonius in Act 1, Scene 3 of “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”): This above all: To thine own self be true.
There’s nothing you can hold for very long
Although there is some ambiguity as to the exact number of concerts the Grateful Dead played over the course of their 30-year history, it is well accepted that the figure is north of 2300. Of those, less than one-percent took place at the stroke of midnight on December 31 (22 to be precise). Statistics aside, the band’s New Year’s shows were nothing less than the stuff of legend.
This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 34 - August 21, 1983
Ain’t nobody messing with you but you.
When I began my studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz in ’75, the countercultural vibe of the ’60s was still alive and well. Having spent my junior high and high school years in Southern California, my primary exposure to the Grateful Dead was the well-known reference in the Cowsills’ 1969 song, Hair (“It’s not for lack of bread, like the Grateful Dead”). But once I arrived on the Central California coast (Santa Cruz is just 75 miles south of San Francisco) the Grateful Dead could be heard seeping out of the cracks of dorm rooms all over campus, and providing the ambiance for every cafe in town.
All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo