Nine days after the three Cummins brothers saw the Grateful Dead in Las Vegas, I took my two daughters Inez and Sarah to a Dead show in Portland, OR. I had taken Sarah to a Dead show the year before, but this was Inez’s first show! I remember it being a very hot Monday afternoon. They made us park our car on the other side of I-5 and we walked a half mile to the Venue. We walked onto the field and laid our blanket down on the grass about 100 feet from and center to the stage. Inez and Sarah were wearing two of my Grateful Dead shirts that were way too big for them. As we waited for the concert to start we took pictures, drank a lot of water and watched all the colorful “Dead Heads” as they walked by! Chuck Berry was the warm up band, he played a bunch of his hits like “Roll over Beethoven” “Johnny B. Goode,” but he really got the crowd going when he played “My Ding-A Ling!” Inez and Sarah got a big laugh from that song!
The Grateful Dead came out and played “Let the Good Times Roll” then a couple songs later they played “Tennessee Jed” and I was just singing away when I turned and looked at Sarah and she was laughing at me! The second set started with a very hot version of “Shakedown Street” then a real smokin’ version of “Terrapin Station” and later they rocked out on “Sugar Magnolia” and during the Sunshine Daydream part of the song, I looked over and saw both my girls singing! That put a big smile on dads face! For the Encore they played “Liberty” This was the last song I got to hear the Grateful Dead play, Jerry died a few months later. After the concert it was hard walking to the car, because we were all fried from the heat. But as we were walking to the car, I was thinking. I know the Grateful Dead is not my girl’s type of music, but I know they had a pretty good time. It wasn’t so much the music, it was the time we were able to spend together and have some fun! That hot day with my girl’s, I wouldn’t trade that for anything in this world!