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.

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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.

I wish I was a headlight

I don’t believe in aging. But before you misidentify me as a wingnut, “chronology change denier,” allow me to define the term “aging.” Within the context of aging as a biological fact, there is no “belief” involved. We all age and eventually die. That is an undeniable fact. However, there is more to “aging” than that. So, let’s drill down a little deeper, shall we?

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986
We will survive

The irony is inescapable. The very song that became nothing less than an anthem for the entire Grateful Dead community also represented the beginning of the end for the band. Touch of Grey reached #9 on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart in September, 1987, the only time the Dead cracked the top 10 in the entire history of the band. A distant second, Truckin’ reached #64 in December, 1971, and only 4 other songs ever ranked in the top 100.

Stew Sallo, A.K.A., The Deadhead Cyclist

Stew Sallo is the author of the book, The Deadhead Cyclist, and founder/owner of Boulder Weekly, an award-winning alternative weekly in its 33th year of publication in print and online at BoulderWeekly.com. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, he cut his teeth as a publisher in Santa Cruz for 10 years before relocating to Boulder to start the Boulder Weekly. He has been a Deadhead since the summer of 1974, attended his first Grateful Dead concert at Winterland in San Francisco on October 19, 1974, and has since been to some 200 Grateful Dead concerts. Stew is an avid mountain biker, plays competitive baseball on three teams in his home state of Colorado, and travels each year to play tournament baseball in California, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, South Dakota and Florida. In 2003, Stew founded the classic rock band, Hindsight. Stew lives in Boulder, CO with his wife of 26 years. He has two daughters and two grandsons.

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.

Other Posts

There’s nothing you can hold for very long

I wish I was a headlight

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986We will survive

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986

We will survive

Stew Sallo, A.K.A., The Deadhead Cyclist

This Week in Grateful Dead History: Week 51 – December 15, 1986
We will survive