Reserve your copy of the latest addition to the library of baseball literature.
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 18 - May 1, 1977
I don’t trust to nothing
As we continue our focus on the Spring ’77 tour, we run head-on into five shows at the Palladium in New York City, April 29 – May 4 (with a well-deserved night off on May 2). The 3000-capacity Palladium played a storied role in rock music history during the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, when the property was purchased by New York University and converted into a student residential hall, affectionately referred to as Palladium Hall.
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 24 - June 9, 1977
If you plant ice
Franklin’s Tower was first performed at Winterland on June 17, 1975. As was most often the case – inclusive of the studio version on the 1975 release, Blues for Allah – the tune was the exclamation point on the seminal Help on the Way/Slipknot/Franklin’s Tower medley that leads off and occupies most of Side 1 of that album. Franklin’s Tower was found in the Dead’s setlist six times during the Spring ’77 tour, culminating in arguably their best performance to date, as part of this week’s pick for T.W.I.G.D.H., June 9, 1977, also at Winterland.
All Material Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Stewart Sallo