#34. I'm actually a late comer to the Grateful Dead. Although there are pictures of me sporting a concert jersey from a concert circa 1979, that was actually a gift from a Deadhead friend. After he gave it to me, I went out and picked up Blues for Allah. Definitely not the place to start. Prior to that, in 1977, I had seen The Grateful Dead Movie because I won tickets. I was just discovering punk at that time, so I was mostly just bored by the movie.
Fast forward to 2000. Freaks & Geeks had already been canceled with the last few episodes shelved. The Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media) arranged to screen these in their rather small screening room. Tickets sold out before I could score one, so I got in line early and hoped to get in. I didn't make it in the main room, but they did a satellite screening in their smaller room. I planted myself in that room and proceeded to watch the last 5 unaired shows with other fans. Judd Apatow was there, but was in the main room. He did come in at one point to thank us for our dedication.
Well, he was the one deserving of my thanks. Besides helping to produce one of my all time favorite shows, the last episode of the series, Discos and Dragons, did something I never thought possible. It made me a Grateful Dead fan. Because the music in the series was so smartly woven in to the story lines, American Beauty was used to introduce the Lindsey character to the Grateful Dead. It was so moving, and I ran out and bought American Beauty the next day. I now own every Grateful Dead studio album and more live shows than some Dead fans may have ever seen.
I wonder how differently things would have been with me had I bought American Beauty instead of Blues for Allah in 1979.
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